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PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


'Saflantpne 

BALLANTYNE,  HANSON  AND  CO. 
EDINBURGH  AND  LONDON 


S  "  '  -  -----  -  - -  -  •  -  - - 


tiie  shepherd’s  club  and  staff. 

See  por/e  255. 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED 


WITH  A  VIEW  TO  ITS  PRESENT 
NATURAL  FEATURES,  AND  TO  THE  PREVAILING 
MANNERS,  CUSTOMS,  RITES,  AND  COLLOQUIAL  EXPRESSIONS 
OF  ITS  PEOPLE,  WHICH  THROW  LIGHT  ON  THE 
FIGURATIVE  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  BIBLE . 


BY  THE 


REV.  JAMESkNEIL, 


M.A. 


FORMERLY  INCUMBENT  OF  CHRIST  CHURCH,  JERUSALEM, 
AUTHOR  OF  “  PALESTINE  REPEOPLED,”  ETC. 


NEW  YORK: 

A.  D.  F.  RANDOLPH  &  CO. 

900  BROADWAY. 

1882. 


PEEFACE. 


The  following  pages  deal  with  the  author’s  dis¬ 
coveries  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  those  recently 
made  there  by  others,  which  throw  new  light  upon 
the  Bible.  His  chief  qualification  for  the  work  lies 
in  his  having  enjoyed  an  official  residence  at  Jeru¬ 
salem  for  three  years,  from  May  1871  to  May 
1874.  During  that  time  he  was  called  upon  to 
traverse  Palestine  in  many  directions.  The  manage¬ 
ment  of  landed  property  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  afforded  him  very  special  facilities  for  form¬ 
ing  a  close  acquaintance  with  its  natural  features 
and  modem  life.  Intimate  relations  with  its  vari¬ 
ous  races,  and  more  particularly  with  native  Jews, 
amongst  whom  Hebrew  is  still  a  spoken  language, 
gave  further  help.  Hor  must  the  advantage  derived 
from  the  invaluable  aid  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund  be  overlooked.  The  greater  part  of  the  Ord¬ 
nance  Survey  of  Western  Palestine,  which,  to  the 
Biblical  student,  is  by  far  the  most  important 
scientific  work  of  this  scientific  age,  was  accom¬ 
plished  during  the  period  of  the  author’s  residence 


Till  PREFACE. 

at  Jerusalem,  and  lie  lias  watched  its  progress 
throughout. 

O 

It  was  not  until  his  return  to  England  that  the 
force  and  bearing  of  many  observations  were  fully 
realised.  A  second  visit  to  the  East  was  made  in 
February  1875.  Three  months  were  then  occupied 
by  a  journey  up  the  Nile  throughout  the  length  of 
Egypt,  and  in  once  more  traversing  the  Land  of 
Israel.  This  opportunity  served  to  test  carefully 
many  conclusions,  and  to  widen  a  former  experience. 

The  various  excellent  volumes  which  have  hitherto 
appeared  on  this  subject  deal  with  Scripture  allu¬ 
sions  in  general.  As  far  as  the  author  is  aware, 
this  is  the  first  attempt  to  treat  in  an  original 
manner  of  Palestine  life  as  it  bears  upon  those 
allusions  only  which  occur  by  way  of  figurative 
language. 

o  O 

Frequent  glances  at  Hebrew  philology,  or  the 
study  of  the  precise  meaning  of  Hebrew  words, 
could  not  be  avoided.  Its  claims,  in  our  day,  no 
student  of  the  Word,  however  humble,  can  afford 
to  forget.  It  is  not  less  true  that  no  intelligent 
layman,  albeit  unacquainted  with  a  single  letter  of 
the  ancient  language  of  Canaan,  need  doubt  for  a 
moment  his  full  capacity  to  enter  with  intense  in¬ 
terest  and  no  little  profit  into  many  simple  branches 
of  this  important  study. 

The  reader  will  find  that  all  passages  which  occur 


PREFACE. 


IX 


as  poetry  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  uniformly 
given  in  this  work  in  the  form  of  poetical  extracts. 
He  will  also  find  that  all  the  numerous  quotations 
from  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  care¬ 
fully  retranslated,  wherever  the  adoption  of  a  more 
authentic  reading  of  the  text,  the  employment  of  a 
more  accurate  rendering  of  it,  or  the  excision  of  the 
obsolete  words  or  grammatical  constructions  which 
occur  in  our  version  have  called  for  an  improve¬ 
ment.  This  has  sprung  from  a  twofold  purpose — 
first,  to  give  in  each  case,  as  truthfully  as  possible, 
the  very  language  of  inspiration  ;  and  secondly,  to 
prepare  the  minds  of  all  for  the  new  revised  version 
of  the  Bible  now  appearing,  which,  right  and  neces¬ 
sary  as  it  is,  can  scarcely  fail  to  prove  a  shock  to 
some  pious  people  who  have  not  read  the  Word  of 
God  in  the  original. 

The  attention  of  those  who  are  charged  with  the 
deeply  responsible  duty  of  making  the  revision  of 
the  Old  Testament  is  respectfully  but  earnestly 
invited  to  some  important  renderings  suggested  in 
this  work.  Some  of  these  are  drawn  from  the 
terms  for  common  objects  which  the  writer  found 
in  constant  use  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Where 
the  modern  colloquial  Arabic  spoken  in  Palestine, 
by  a  people  who  are  now  held  to  be  a  remnant 
of  the  original  Canaanitish  nations,  retains,  as  it  so 
often  does,  the  very  same  word  which  we  find  in 


X 


PREFACE. 


the  Hebrew  Scriptures  employed  in  a  similar  con¬ 
nection,  with  a  precise  technical  meaning — a  mean¬ 
ing  which  can  be  consistently  and  naturally  applied 
to  all,  or  almost  all,  the  passages  where  it  occurs, 
and  which,  when  so  applied,  gives  a  new  appro¬ 
priateness  and  beauty  to  each — can  we  doubt  that 
this  is  the  true  and  accurate  meaning  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  intended  to  convey  ? 

The  indulgent  reception  given  to  the  author’s 
former  work  on  the  present  of  Palestine  in  relation 
to  its  future,  which  has  now  almost  run  through  its 
seventh  edition,  has  encouraged  him  to  put  forth  this 
view  of  its  present  in  relation  to  its  past.  May  He 
who  bade  us  “search  the  Scriptures”  be  revealed  to 
all  who  peruse  these  pages.  They  have  been  written 
throughout  to  the  praise  of  His  name. 

Olicana  House,  Ilkley,  Yorkshire, 

September  18S1. 


CONTENTS 


PREFACE  . 

CHAPTER 

I.  THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE  .... 

II.  MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS 

III.  MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS— (CONTINUED) 
IY.  SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL  . 

V.  THE  NIGHT-MIST . 

VI.  THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF . 

VII.  THE  ORANGE . 

VIII.  THE  KEEPER . 

IX.  CRUSHED  STRAW . 

X.  SIFTING  .  . . 

XI.  THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF  . 

XII.  MOUNT  ZION  .  .  . 

INDEX  OF  HEBREW  WORDS  EXPLAINED  IN  THIS  WORK 
INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES  .... 
INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS . 


PAGE 

vii 


i 

22 

65 

I  12 
129 
152 
l8l 

209 

222 

244 

255 

279 

299 

301 

3°9 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Shepherd’s  Club  and  Staff 
Fellahs  Shivering  Pottery 
An  Arab  Sheikh'leaning  on  his  Staff 
A  Bethlehem  Woman  Sifting  Wheat 


Frontispiece 
page  1 2 1 

•  155 

•  247 


Forms  of  the  Shepherd’s  “  Shaivet  ”  or  Oak  Club  257 


A  Derweesh’s  Iron  Mace . 

Sketch  Map  of  J erusalem  and  its  Environs  . 


269 

289 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 

“Why  do  they  on  the  Sabbath-day  that  which  is 
not  lawful  ?  ” 1  said  the  Pharisees  to  Christ  with 
reference  to  an  act  of  His  disciples.  To  the  mind 
of  the  author  in  childhood  the  case  afforded  a  still 
graver  difficulty.  “  Why  do  they  that  which  is  not 
lawful  upon  any  day  ?  ”  was  the  anxious  inquiry  that 
haunted  him,  though  he  did  not  dare  to  express  it 
openly.  The  Master  with  His  humble  followers  had 
been  passing  through  fields  of  ripening  corn.  These' 
poor  hungry  men,  seeing  the  golden  ears  gleaming 
amid  their  beards  of  black  awns,  had  plucked  them  off, 
and  rubbing  out  the  grain  between  their  palms,  had 
satisfied  with  this  simple  fare  the  cravings  of  appe¬ 
tite.  In  fact,  it  seems  that  the  whole  company  had 
made  there  and  then  a  full  repast.  How,  in  every 

1  Mark  ii.  24. 


A 


2 


PALESTINE  EXPLOEED. 


part  of  our  country  a  much  less  offence  than  this, 
even  the  plucking  of  a  single  ear,  would  he  a  mis¬ 
demeanour  to  he  punished  hy  the  magistrate,  and 
that  sometimes  very  severely.  The  act  of  our 
Saviour’s  followers,  measured  hy  the  only  standard 
of  which  he  knew,  amounted  to  wilful  theft.  Great 
was  the  perplexity  caused  hy  a  consideration  of  the 
whole  narrative,  and  great  was  his  gladness  in  after 
years  to  he  permitted  to  enjoy  repeated  opportuni¬ 
ties  of  realising  the  strict  regularity  of  the  whole 
proceeding  during  his  residence  in  the  Holy  Land. 

There  the  right  of  a  traveller  to  pluck  and  eat 
his  fill  of  wheat,  or  even  to  allow  his  horse  to  browse 
in  passing  on  the  standing  crop  of  barley,  is  a  part 
of  the  time-honoured  common  law  of  those  truly 
hospitable  regions.  The  tillage,  lying  for  miles  in 
one  unbroken  stretch  with  no  walls,  hedges,  or 
ditches,  renders  this  privilege  both  easy  and  natural, 
without  involving  any  trespass.  Wheat  and  barley 
in  Syria  present  few  of  the  difficulties  experienced 
in  their  culture  in  more  northern  lands.  Palestine, 
next  to  Egypt,  is  the  very  home  of  these  grains. 
Every  rocky  patch  on  the  hill  slopes,  which  with  us 
would  only  be  accounted  a  goat  pasture,  is  there 
sown  broadcast,  and  in  favourable  seasons  makes  an 
astonishingly  bountiful  return.  Hence  the  unpro¬ 
tected  position  of  arable  ground  rendering  prohibi¬ 
tion  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  together  with  the 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


3 


proverbial  abundance  of  the  crops,  have  jointly 
contributed  to  establish  this  charitable  custom  from 
the  earliest  times. 

It  is,  of  course,  perfectly  true  that  a  close 
acquaintance  with  .Scripture  would  have  entirely 
reconciled  the  author’s  youthful  difficulty,  short  of 
his  Syrian  experience,  for  this  charter  of  the  stranger 
and  the  poor  was  incorporated  in  the  law  of  Moses. 
In  that  statute-book  of  Palestine  we  read,  “  When 
thou  comest  into  the  standing  corn  of  thy  neighbour, 
then  thou  mayest  pluck  the  ears  with  thine  hand ; 
but  thou  shalt  not  move  a  sickle  unto  thy  neigh¬ 
bour’s  standing  corn.”  1  But  it  is  placed  here  as 
one  of  very  many  serious  difficulties  which  all  have 
felt  some  time  or  other  in  reading  the  Bible,  as  a 
natural  consequence  of  its  Oriental  and  exotic  fea¬ 
tures.  These  difficulties  are  none  the  less  great 
because,  as  in  this  instance,  through  a  false  sense  of 
reverence,  they  sometimes  remain  unspoken,  and 
often,  contrary  to  the  case  in  question,  could  not 
possibly  be  explained  by  any  mere  comparison  with 
other  inspired  passages. 

The  Bible  is  as  much  an  Eastern  book  as  the 
“  Arabian  Nights’  Entertainment.”  It  is  usual  to 

1  Deuteronomy  xxiii.  25.  In  the  previous  verse  permission  is 
given  to  eat  “  thy  fill  of  grapes  at  thine  own  pleasure  ”  when  pass¬ 
ing  through  a  neighbouring  vineyard,  so  long  as  none  are  put  into 
a  vessel  to  be  carried  away.  This,  too,  is  still  a  recognised  custom 
in  Palestine. 


4 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


speak  of  the  Scriptures  as  the  simplest  and  plainest 
of  works.  In  one  sense  this  is  beautifully  true. 
Man’s  ruin,  redemption,  renewal  to  holiness,  and 
resurrection  glory  with  Christ  Jesus,  are  reiterated 
again  and  again,  so  clearly  that- the  inquiring  soul, 
taught  by  the  Spirit,  cannot  err  as  to  these  essential 
doctrines.  Yet  they  are  frequently  illustrated  and 
enforced  by  figurative  language  embodying  facts, 
ideas,  and  phrases  wholly  foreign  to  our  daily  expe¬ 
rience.  Thus  the  honest  and  thoughtful  reader  finds 
himself  constantly  coming  upon  passages  that  appear 
unintelligible.  In  a  word,  the  very  thoughts  and 
expressions  employed  by  the  inspired  writers  to 
render  the  subject  more  lucid  are  themselves  found 
to  present  new  and  formidable  difficulties  !  And 
the  reason  for  this  is  plain.  The  traveller  who,  for 
the  first  time,  visits  the  East — the  land  and  home 
of  the  Bible — finds  himself  in  a  new  world.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  almost  everything  which 
surrounds  us  in  England  differs  from  the  present  life 
of  Palestine,  a  life  which  bears  on  its  simple  features 
the  stamp  of  a  hoary  antiquity.  This  is  the  full  and 
simple  explanation. 

It  is  not  that  Moses,  or  David,  or  Isaiah,  or  the 
Lord  Christ  made  reference  to  any  abstruse  or 
unusual  matters.  Quite  the  reverse.  They  drew 
their  countless  allusions  from  everyday  familiar 
objects  of  the  very  simplest  kind,  far  simpler,  as  I 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


5 


hope  to  show  in  the  following  pages,  than  many 
have  supposed.  They  wrote  for  the  masses.  It  was 
the  purpose  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  to  make  revelation 
exceedingly  plain.  But  we  are  apt  to  overlook  the 
significant  fact  that  the  Bible  was  written  by  East¬ 
erns,  in  the  East,  and  for  Easterns.  Indeed,  a  great 
part  of  it  was  written  exclusively  for  the  use  of 
Easterns  for  many  ages.  The  very  matters,  there¬ 
fore,  which  made  the  sacred  volume  clear  to  those 
to  whom  it  was  first  addressed,  make  it  in  just  the 
same  proportion  obscure  to  us. 

The  references  to  Oriental  affairs  which  we  meet 
with  in  narrative  passages  are  often,  by  the  help  of 
the  context,  rendered  comparatively  plain.  The 
largest  number  of  allusions  to  be  met  with  in  Scrip¬ 
ture,  however,  occur  as  figures  of  speech,  and  as 
such  are  necessarily  far  less  easy  to  be  understood. 

Next  to  a  sublime  simplicity,  which  is  without 
a  rival  in  any  writing,  and  an  emphatic  repetition 
of  ideas  and  phrases,  which  has  been  far  too  little 
admired  and  imitated,  nothing  perhaps  is  more  cha¬ 
racteristic  of  Holy  Scripture,  viewed  as  a  literary 
work,  than  its  boundless  exuberance  of  highly  figu¬ 
rative  language.  The  Spirit  of  God,  who  ever  works 
with  men  from  their  own  natural  standpoint,  speak¬ 
ing  through  the  children  of  the  East  as  the  chosen 
instruments  of  revelation,  has  breathed  upon  the 
rich  imagination  of  the  Orient,  and  consecrated  all 


6 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


its  inimitable  imagery  to  the  service  of  Jehovah. 
It  is  on  this  account  that  I  have  confined  my  re¬ 
searches  to  those  manners,  customs,  natural  features, 
and  expressions  which  are  referred  to  in  figurative 
language. 

We  live  in  sadly  sceptical  times.  Yet  let  it  be 
remembered  that,  in  too  many  instances,  the  abstract 
and  unreal  .treatment  of  sacred  subjects  has  paved 
the  way  to  the  present  popular  worship  of  doubt 
and  uncertainty.  An  excellent  method  of  dealing 
with  the  epidemic  of  modern  unbelief  is  to  make 
much  of  the  realistic  elements  of  the  Bible.  This 
healthy  study  meets  Materialism  upon  its  own 
ground.  The  living  identity  and  reality  of  the 
various  subjects  alluded  to  in  the  Bible  should  now 
be  set  before  intelligent  men.  They  should  be  in¬ 
vited  to  consider  the  simple  fact  that  the  most 
ancient  book  the  world  can  show,  and  the  ruined 
land  concerning  which  most  of  it  speaks,  answer  to 
one  another  like  the  two  parts  of,  an  indenture. 
They  should  be  shown  that  the  very  difficulties 
and  anomalies  which  that  book  at  first  sight  pre¬ 
sents  are  only  so  many  convincing  incidental  proofs 
of  its  being,  at  least  from  a  literary  standpoint,  just 
what  it  claims  to  be;  nay  more,  that  if  these,  grave 
surface  difficulties  were  absent ,  the  booh  could  not 
possibly  be  genuine  ! 

To  take  an  example  of  the  singular  force  of  this 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


7 


argument,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  highly 
damaging  objection  sometimes  urged  against  Holy 
Scripture  on  the  ground  of  the  coarseness  of  the 
expressions  it  contains,  and  the  handling  of  subjects 
the  very  mention  of  which  we  should  account  im¬ 
pure.  I  know  that  this  has  been  an  honest  difficulty 
to  many  earnest  and  sensitive  minds.  Yet  a  com¬ 
paratively  short  residence  in  Palestine  serves  to 
remove  it  altogether;  and  indeed  no  Eastern  could 
possibly  see  any  objection  whatever  on  this  score. 
They  still,  as  in  ancient  times,  use  the  greatest 
plainness  of  speech  throughout  the  Holy  Land.  At 
first  a  Western  sense  of  delicacy  is  greatly  shocked. 
Things,  the  very  mention  of  which  decency  forbids 
amongst  us,  are  there  spoken  of  freely  before  women 
and  children  by  people  of  the  highest  class,  and  of 
the  greatest  respectability  and  refinement.  As  soon 
as  one  acquires  a  knowledge  of  Arabic,  which  is 
virtually  but  a  softer  and  more  copious  form  of 
Hebrew,  the  ear  is  assailed  by  a  plain-speaking  on 
these  subjects  which  is  extremely  embarrassing  until 
such  time  as  one  becomes  accustomed  to  it.  This 
explains,  however,  at  once  the  perfect  naturalness 
and  innocency  of  the  use  of  expressions  and  the 
mention  of  matters  which  our  translators  have  soft¬ 
ened  down  in  some  instances,  and  public  readers 
have  tacitly  agreed  to  omit  in  others.  Nay  more, 
I  will  go  further  and  boldly  say,  that  seeing  the 


8 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Bible  purports  to  be  an  Eastern  book,  written  in  tbe 
East,  and  first — and  for  long  ages  only — addressed 
to  Easterns,  it  could  not  possibly  be  genuine  if 
these  very  matters,  which  have  given  rise  to  such 
blasphemous  cavils,  were  absent  from  its  pages  ! 

Again,  let  us  glance  at  an  Old  Testament  narrative, 
which  has  caused  as  much  of  anxiety  and  perplexity 
to  sincere  believers  as  of  encouragement  and  triumph 
to  the  enemies  of  the  truth.  We  read  that  Sisera, 
after  his  sudden  defeat  on  the  east  of  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon,  fled  away  to  the  tent  of  Jael,  the  wife 
of  Heber  the  Kenite.  As  he  made  towards  the  now 
deserted  encampment,  where  she  appears  to  have 
been  left  alone,  she  came  out  and  invited  him  to 
enter,  and  then  presented  him  with  “  a  lordly  dish  ” 
of  milk,  that  is,  the  ordinary  wooden  bowl  of  the 
country,  almost  as  large  as  a  hand- basin,  containing 
leben ,  or  goat’s  sour  buttermilk,  the  only  milk  an 
Arab  drinks.  As  soon,  however,  as  he  had  sunk 
into  a  deep  sleep,  she  took  a  “  nail  of,  the  tent,”  one 
of  the  sharp  tent-pegs,  made  of  exceedingly  hard 
wood,  and  a  “hammer,”  or  huge  wooden  mallet, 
employed  to  drive  these  pegs  into  the  ground,  both 
of  which  are  still  in  use,  and  slew  Sisera  by  driving 
the  tent-peg  through  his  temples.1 

1  Judges  iv.  17-21.  The  Hebrew  word  for  “nail”  is  yathaid, 
or  as  it  may  be  yataid,  and  the  precisely  similar  word  in  Arabic, 
allowing  for  the  rules  of  transliteration,  icataid,  is  the  modern 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


9 


"Now,  even  sound  evangelical  commentators  have 
not  hesitated  to  denounce  this  act  as  one  of  cruel 
treachery  and  deliberate  murder.  Viewed  in  the 
light  of  Bible  lands,  the  crime  would  be  tenfold 
more  heinous  and  unnatural.  Amongst  the  nomad 
tribes  of  Palestine  and  the  surrounding  deserts  the 
rites  of  hospitality  are  peculiarly  sacred  and  inviol¬ 
able.  Base  beyond  description  would  that  wretch 
be  accounted  who,  having  first  entertained  a  stranger, 
not  to  say  an  ally,  in  “  a  house  of  hair,” 1  afterwards 
took  his  life  when  he  laid  down  to  rest.  Yet  in  the 
very  next  chapter  the  prophetess  Deborah,  in  a  grand 
inspired  song,  prefaces  a  recital  of  this  incident  with 
words  of  the  highest  commendation — 

“  Blessed  among  women  be  Jael, 

The  wife  of  Heber  the  Kenite, 

Blessed  let  her  be  among  women  in  the  tent/’ 2 

How  can  the  difficulty  be  reconciled — a  difficulty 
which  has  caused  the  most  painful  disquietude  to 
countless  tender  consciences  ?  The  answer  is  quite 
plain,  for  in  Palestine  a  perfectly  natural  and  satis¬ 
factory  explanation  at  once  appears.  Jael,  left  alone 
by  herself,  separated  from  her  husband  and  his  ser¬ 
vants,  who  appear  to  have  been  at  a  distance  with 

technical  term  for  the  wooden  tent-pegs  about  a  foot  and  a  half  long, 
used  for  driving  into  the  ground  to  form  attachments  for  the  cords 
by  which  the  goat’s-hair  tents  are  stretched  and  held  in  position. 

1  The  Arab  name  for  a  tent.  2  Judges  v.  24. 


I  O  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

the  flocks,  sees  the  general  of  Jabin’s  forces  running 
towards  her  tent,  determined  to  force  an  entrance. 
What  could  she  do  to  resist  an  armed  and  desperate 
man  ?  No  other  course  was  possible  save  to  do  as 
we  read  she  did,  namely,  put  a  good  face  on  the 
matter,  and  ask  him  in.  But  the  point  on  which  the 
narrative  turns  is  this.  Sisera  had  no  right  to  enter 
her  tent  at  all.  The  women’s  apartment  of  an  Arab 
tent,  the  only  place  in  it  where  any  privacy  exists, 
must  never,  under  any  circumstances,  be  entered  by 
a  man.  Instances  are  recorded  amongst  the  Arabs 
of  a  defeated  warrior  having  hidden  himself  in  the 
apartments  of  women ;  but  such  a  heinous  breach 
of  Eastern  etiquette  has  in  each  case  been  followed 
by  the  sentence  of  death.  The  insult  and  wrong 
done  to  Jael  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  Bedctween 
woman  was  such  that,  in  order  to  avenge  her  honour, 
her  husband  or  her  brother  would  have  been  bound 
by  the  unwritten  but  inflexible  code  of  Eastern  law 
to  take  Sisera’s  life.  She  simply  became  the  execu¬ 
tioner  of  a  sentence  which  some  other  person  would, 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  have  carried  out.  This 
alters  the  whole  case ;  and  J ael,  instead  of  being  a 
cruel,  lawless,  treacherous  creature,  becomes,  from 
the  only  standard  by  which  we  have  any  right  to 
judge  her,  a  true  heroine.  It  is  most  interesting  to 
observe  that  in  Deborah’s  inspired  commendation 
of  the  conduct  of  Heber’s  wife,  particular  stress  is 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


II 

laid  upon  the  fact  of  her  being  a  Bedaween  woman, 
and  acting  nobly  and  righteously  from  a  Bedaween  s 
point  of  view — • 

“Blessed  let  her  he  among  women  in  the  tent.” 

This  could  not  possibly  have  been  said  if  it  were  a  case 
of  treachery  or  murder  in  connection  with  a  guest. 

There  is  another  fact  connected  with  camp  life 
in  Palestine  that  came  under  my  own  personal 
observation,  which  strengthens  the  presumption 
that,  in  asking  Sisera  to  enter  the  tent,  Jael,  thrown 
suddenly  into  a  position  of  great  peril,  was  only 
acting  throughout  under  the  pressure  of  fear  and 
necessity,  and  was  from  the  first  solely  intent  upon 
defending  herself  and  her  reputation  by  tactics 
which  any  Arab  woman  would  consider  lawful. 
We  are  specially  told  that  she  went  out  of  her 
way  to  offer  him  leben,  or  curdled  milk.  This  act 
receives  strong  emphasis  in  the  poetical  version  of 
the  story :  and  not  without  reason.  Leben  is  that 
delightful  preparation  of  goat’s-milk  largely  drunk 
in  Palestine  amongst  the  pastoral  tribes.  It  is 
goat’s-milk  with  the  butter  left  in  it  made  sour, 
or  curdled,  by  an  artificial  process.  Ho  more  ex¬ 
cellent,  wholesome,  or  medicinal  drink  is  to  be 
found  in  a  hot  country.  It  possesses  in  particular 
one  peculiar  and  invaluable  property.  It  has  a 
remarkably  soothing  anti-feverish  effect  on  the 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


12 

nervous  system  when  disordered  by  fatigue,  and 
acts  as  a  strong  soporific.  I  have  myself  expe¬ 
rienced  the  pleasant  sleep-inducing  effects  of  this 
beverage.  On  one  occasion,  when  suffering  from 
much  sleeplessness  and  nervous  excitement  brought 
on  by  great  fatigue,  I  partook  of  it  very  freely  at  a 
Bedaween  camp  on  the  north  of  the  plain  of  Sharon. 
So  strong  was  its  action  that,  after  resting  for  half 
an  hour,  I  could  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
continue  my  journey,  in  consequence  of  the  drowsi¬ 
ness  that  came  over  me.  Indeed,  my  first  impres¬ 
sion  was  that  the  draught  must  have  been  drugged, 
so  sudden  and  powerful  were  its  narcotic  effects. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Jael’s  purpose  in 
supplying  leben  so  liberally  to  Sisera  was  to  send 
him  into  a  sound  and  deep  sleep.  If  so,  then  her 
conduct  throughout  appears  to  have  been  perfectly 
consistent  as  an  attempt  to  punish  in  a  summary 
but  lawful  way,  what  in  her  eyes,  and  the  eyes  of 
her  people,  was  an  unpardonable  crime,  committed 
by  a  well-known  and  unscrupulous  tyrant  who  seems 
to  have  trusted  for  impunity  to  his  high  rank.1 

Once  more,  the  great  and  to  us  unnatural  fre¬ 
quency  with  which  references  to  weapons  of  war 
occur  in  the  Hebrew  prophets  must  have  struck  all 
careful  readers  of  the  Bible.  I  was  on  one  occasion 

1  I  am  indebted  for  the  idea  of  the  above  explanation  to  Lieu¬ 
tenant  Conder’s  Tent  Work  in  Palestine ,  vol.  i.  p.  133. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


13 


at  considerable  pains  to  draw  up  a  complete  view  of 
the  different  sources  from  which  the  various  images 
employed  in  the  Psalms  are  derived.  I  found,  upon 
classifying  every  figure  of  speech  which  occurs  in 
this  book  under  its  own  proper  subject  heading 
that  out  of  the  fourteen  subjects  into  which  all  the 
illustrations  could  be  naturally  divided,  weapons  of 
war  came  third  in  order  of  frequency.  Such  a  fact 
supplies  in  itself  a  forcible  undesigned  coincidence 
which  may  be  viewed  as  a  strong  proof  of  the 
genuineness  of  this  grand  Prayer-book  and  Hymn- 
book  of  the  Universal  Church.  To  the  present  day 
in  Palestine  almost  every  man,  however  quiet  his 
occupation  or  disposition,  goes  about  armed,  and 
while  travelling  is  often  armed  to  the  teeth.  The 
bow  and  arrows  of  Bible  times,  and  with  them  the 
shield,  have  now  given  place  to  a  very  old-fashioned 
gun,  with  the  use  of  which  all  the  male  population 
are  perfectly  familiar ;  and  indeed  most  Syrian 
peasants,  if  allowed  an  artificial  rest  for  their  long, 
clumsy  fire-arms,  command  a  very  deadly  aim.  The 
stout  heavy-headed  wooden  club,  the  dagger,  or 
knife,  and  the  sling  are  everywhere  to  be  seen  at 
the  present  day,  and  so,  though  less  frequently,  are 
the  “  club  of  iron,”  or  formidable  spiked  iron  mace, 
and  the  spear,  or  javelin,  these  latter  mostly  car¬ 
ried  by  Derweeshes.  The  sword,  too,  is  now  a  common 
weapon  amongst  all  classes  of  civilians,  and  one  they 


14 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


know  well  liow  to  wield.  Endless  family  fends, 
border  warfare,  Bedaween  raids,  and  desperate 
attacks  by  robbers,  still  as  of  old  call  these  weapons 
constantly  into  use ;  and  so  also  do  the  ravages  of 
the  wild  beasts  which  infest  most  of  the  highways. 
The  universal  practice  in  this  matter  amongst  the 
people  at  large  adds  a  very  special  force,  and 
one  that  we  should  naturally  overlook,  to  the 
wretched  state  of  bondage  under  which  Israel  must 
have  lain  in  the  days  of  Saul,  when  they  were  so 
thoroughly  disarmed  by  the  Philistines  that  “  there 
was  neither  sword  nor  spear  found  in  the  hand  of 
any  of  the  people.’’ 1 

Upon  first  landing  in  Palestine,  I  determined 
that  I  would  not  carry  weapons,  regarding  them  as 
inconsistent  with  my  peaceful  calling.  I  had  not, 
however,  resided  there  many  months,  during  which 
long  journeys  had  to  be  made  alone  by  night,  before 
I  discovered  that  it  was,  humanly  speaking,  abso¬ 
lutely  necessary  to  bear  fire-arms,  as  all  around  me 
were  doing,  if  only  as  a  protection  against  the  wild 
animals  that  roam  about  after  dark.  Upon  reflect¬ 
ing  on  the  course  of  action  I  was  thus  most  un- 
willingly  led  to  adopt,  I  perceived  a  practical  and 
perfectly  satisfactory  explanation  of  our  Lord’s 
words,  which  have  proved  a  source  of  such  trouble 
to  sensitive  souls,  and  of  such  serious  censure  on 

1  I  Samuel  xiii.  19-22. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


15 


the  part  of  objectors.  In  one  of  His  last  discourses 
the  Saviour  announced  to  His  disciples  that,  after 
His  death,  they  would  no  longer  be  sent  out  as 
formerly,  but  that,  in  taking  their  missionary  jour¬ 
neys,  they  were  henceforth  to  make  the  ordinary, 
lawful,  and  necessary  provisions  for  travelling.  He 
said,  “ ‘  When  I  sent  you  forth  without  purse,  and 
leathern  bag,  and  shoes,  lacked  ye  anything  ?  ’  and 
they  said,  4  Nothing.’  Then  He  said  unto  them  :  c  But 
now,  he  that  hath  a  purse,  let  him  take  it,  and  like¬ 
wise  a  leathern  bag,  and  he  that  hath  none,  let  him  sell 
his  cloak,  and  buy  a  sword.  .  .  .  And  they  said :  ‘  Lord, 
behold,  here  are  two  swords’  And  He  said  unto  them, 
1  It  is  enough  ’  ”  1  I  learnt  by  the  experience  ‘of 
everyday  life  that  these  words,  in  their  fullest 
meaning,  implied  no  more  than  saying,  “  Take  now 
the  usual  precautions  which  all  prudent  and  expe¬ 
rienced  people  employ  when  setting  out  upon  long 
and  dangerous  journeys.”  No  Syrian  could  fail  for 
a  moment  to  understand  the  Master’s  meaning,  or 
the  absolute  necessity  for  such  an  injunction,  unless 
Christians  were  to  be  preserved  by  a  perpetual 
miracle.  Many  similar  examples  might  be  adduced 
to  show  how  a  great  number  of  the  cavils  of  un¬ 
believers  arise  really  from  ignorance,  and  cannot  live 
for  a  moment  in  the  light  of  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  Palestine  life. 


1  Luke  xxii.  35,  36,  38. 


1 6 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


There  is  a  consideration,  to  which  we  are  strangers 
in  these  highly  civilised  lands  of  the  West,  that 
lends  a  great  and  peculiar  importance  to  researches 
in  the  Land  of  Israel.  I  allude  to  the  marvellous 
uniformity  and  antiquity  of  the  present  manners 
and  customs  and  artificial  productions  throughout 
this  and  the  surrounding  countries.  The  origin  of 
most  of  their  customs  is  so  ancient  as  to  be  lost  in 
remote  ages.  All  that  members  of  the  oldest  families 
can  say,  when  asked  to  account  for  the  present 
habits  of  the  people,  is  “  Our  fathers  did  thus ;  ”  “  It 
is  from  ancient  times  ;  ”  “  It  always  was  done  so.” 
Notwithstanding  the  numerous  races  and  religions 
which  have  for  centuries  swept  in  turn  across  these 
ruined  regions,  there  remains  a  stereotyped  agree¬ 
ment  in  almost  all  the  common  affairs  of  life.  If 
we  speak  of  a  plough,  then  from  the  south  of  Egypt 
to  the  far  north  of  Syria,  on  every  farm  this  imple¬ 
ment  is  of  precisely  the  same  make.  In  every  house 
you  visit  the  little  handleless  cup  out  of  which  you 
sip  your  coffee  is  of  the  same  size  and  pattern,  and 
so  are  the  basin  and  ewer  with  which  the  servant 
of  your  host,  when  he  has  girded  himself  and  taken 
a  towel,  washes  your  hands.  In  each  class  of  life 
both  men  and  women  respectively  dress  alike,  and 
strange  as  it  sounds  to  us,  the  material,  colour,  and 
style  of  apparel  in  the  rural  districts  are  wholly 
unaffected  by  any  new  modes,  but  in  the  memory 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


17 

of  man  have  continued  in  all  respects  precisely  tlie 
same !  No  changing  fashions,  no  progress  in  arts 
or  science  varies,  or  ever  appears  to  have  varied, 
the  simple  appliances  of  Palestine.  The  state  of 
the  countrv,  viewed  in  this  light,  is  a  standing 

v  7  O  y  O 

miracle. 

The  language,  too,  which  is  now  in  use  retains 
in  all  respects  the  very  phrases  of  Scripture.  Still 
the  only  names  by  which  the  days  of  the  week  are 
known  are  the  same  as  of  old.  The  Lord’s- day  is 
“  the  first  day  of  the  week,”  Monday  is  “  the  second 
day,”  and  so  on  with  the  rest.1  Still  the  day  is 
said  to  begin  at  sunset,  and  is  reckoned,  as  in  the 
very  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  from  the  evening  to 
the  morning.2  Still  the  hours  of  the  day  are  the 
same ;  the  first  of  the  night  being  an  hour  after 
sunset,  and  the  eleventh  hour  of  the  night  an  hour 
before  sunrise ;  the  first  hour  of  the  day  being  the 
first  after  sunrise,  and  the  eleventh  hour  of  the  day 
an  hour  before  sunset.3  Still  all  distances  are  com¬ 
puted  not  by  miles,  but  by  the  hours  or  days  which 

1  Genesis  i.  5,  8,  13,  19,  23,  31  ;  ii.  2,  &c. 

2  Genesis  i.  5,  &c.  ;  Exodus  xxvii.  21  ;  Psalm  lv.  17,  &c. 

3  Mark  xv.  25  ;  Matthew  xxvii.  46  ;  John  iv.  52  ;  Acts  xxiii.  23. 
At  the  equinoxes  the  first  hour  of  the  day  is  six  o’clock  A.M.,  and 
the  first  hour  of  the  night  six  o’clock  P.M.  The  third  hour  then 
answers  to  our  nine  o’clock  A.M.  Though  there  is  a  difference  in 
the  length  of  the  days  in  summer  and  winter,  it  is  not  in  the  latitude 
of  Palestine  nearly  so  great  as  with  us.  It  does  not  much  exceed 
four  hours  between  the  longest  and  shortest  days.  The  day  is 

B 


1 8 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


it  takes  to  accomplish  them.1  The  very  names 
of  most  of  the  villages  and  ruins,  and  we  have 
now  ten  thousand  names  on  the  Survey  Map  of 
Western  Palestine,  have  a  meaning  in  Hebrew.2  Do 
you  desire,  like  Abraham,  to  make  a  purchase,  the 
seller  still  says,  in  the  words  of  Ephron  the  Hittite, 
“  My  Lord,  ...  I  give  it  thee.”  3  One  not  related 
by  blood,  but  whom  it  is  desired  to  honour,  and 
sometimes  a  complete  stranger,  is  addressed  like 
Elisha  as  “my  father,”4  or  like  Jonathan  as  “my 
brother.” 5  The  common  salutation,  like  that  of 
Joseph’s  steward,  is  “peace  be  unto  thee;”  6  and  the 
honoured  guest  is  bid  to  enter  as  of  yore  with  the 
words  that  greeted  Abraham’s  servant,  “  Come  in, 
thou  blessed  of  the  Lord.”  7  Still,  if  a  man  con¬ 
firms  a  matter  with  an  oath,  he  cries,  “As  God 
liveth,”  or  “  As  the  Lord  liveth.”  8  Does  he  seek 
to  reassure  you,  or  to  protest  his  uprightness,  he 
says  with  Joseph,  “  I  fear  God.”  9  A  farmer  coming 

always  considered  as  divided  into  twelve  hours  (John  xi.  9),  and 
these  hours  are  shorter  in  winter  and  longer  in  summer.  Noon  is 
a  fixed  period,  much  used  by  Easterns  in  reckoning  time  (Genesis 
xliii.  16  ;  Judges  xix.  8  ;  2  Samuel  iv.  5  ;  I  Kings  xviii.  26,  &c.), 
though  not  a  fixed  hour  ;  but  sunset  is  always  twelve  o’clock. 

1  Genesis  xxx.  36,  xxxi.  23  ;  1  Kings  xix.  4. 

2  Tent  Life  in  Palestine.  By  Lieut.  C.  K.  Conder,  B.E.,  vol. 
i-  P-  375- 

3  Genesis  xxiii.  11.  4  2  Kings  ii.  12,  vi.  21.  5  2  Samuel  i.  26. 

6  Genesis  xliii.  23  ;  Judges  vi.  23,  &c.  7  Genesis  xxiv.  31. 

8  2  Samuel  ii.  2 7  ;  Jeremiah  iv.  2.  9  Genesis  xlii.  18. 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


19 


into  his  fields  to  this  day  will  greet  his  labourers 
in  the  very  words  of  Boaz,  “  The  Lord  he  with  you,” 
and  will  receive  for  answer,  “  The  Lord  bless  thee.”  1 
Indeed,  there  is  scarcely  a  devout  expression  to  he 
found  in  the  pages  of  Holy  Writ  that  does  not  now 
flow,  alas  !  hut  too  insincerely,  from  the  tongue  of 
modern  dwellers  in  Palestine.  Does  a  sheikh,  or 
chief,  desire  in  an  emergency  to  assemble  his  allies 
for  war,  he  does  so  with  the  cry  of  Jehu,  “Who  is 
on  my  side  ?  Who  ?  ” 2  Evening  is  still  called  as 
it  was  four  thousand  years  ago,  “  the  time  that  women 
go  out  to  draw  water.”  3  If  you  meet  them  by  the 
well,  and  request  them  to  give  you  a  draught,  like 
Bebekah  of  old,  they  will  let  down  their  pitcher 
upon  their  hand,  and  say,  “  Drink,  my  Lord.”  4  If 
you  ask  them  where  any  principal  resident  of  their 
village  is  to  he  found,  should  he  be  at  home,  you 
will  still  receive  the  same  answer  as  Saul  and  his 
servant,  “Behold,  he  is  before  you.”5  The  poor, 
ignorant,  oppressed  peasant,  to  whom  the  writings 
of  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  are  all  unknown,  neverthe¬ 
less,  in  the  very  language  of  inspiration,  wearily 
asks  the  English  traveller  when  his  nation  are 
coming  “  to  build  up  the  land  again.”  6  In  a  word, 
to  this  day,  in  things  sacred  and  secular,  the  speech 
of  all  Syria  is  unchanged,  and  listening  to  it  one 

1  Ruth  ii.  4.  2  2  Kings  ix.  32.  3  Genesis  xxiv.  1 1.  4  Genesis  xxiv.  18 
5  1  Samuel  ix.  12.  6  Jeremiah  xviii.  9  ;  Ezekiel  xxxvi.  10. 


20 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


catches  everywhere  distinct  and  startling  echoes  of 
Scripture  story. 

Well  has  it  been  said,  “  Immutability  is  the  most 
striking  law  of  Eastern  life.5’  This  unchangeable¬ 
ness  gives  immense  weight  to  all  researches  into 
the  present  condition  of  Palestine.  We  have  had 
of  late  much  very  important  work  done  by  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Eund.  The  land  has  been 
surveyed  throughout  by  able  men  with  most  valu¬ 
able  and  interesting  results.  But  far  more  interest- 
ing  and  valuable  discoveries  are  to  be  made  in  an 
exploration  of  its  life.  Not  only  are  many  ques¬ 
tions  of  topography  of  comparatively  minor  value 
to  the  Biblical  student,  even  when  perfectly  clear, 
but  such  is  the  state  of  emptiness,  ignorance,  wasting, 
and  generally  decay  into  which  the  country  has 
fallen  for  upwards  of  a  thousand  years  that  a  perfect 
identification  of  most  Scriptural  sites  is  scarcely 
possible.  But  in  the  case  of  the  manners,  customs, 
productions,  great  natural  features,  and  a  large  part 
of  the  language  of  the  people,  these  through  ages 
of  convulsion  have  survived  unaltered,  and  may  be 
seen  and  heard  to-day  in  Emmanuel’s  Land  the 
same  in  all  essentials  as  they  were  seen  and  heard  by 
David  three  thousand  years  ago.  Buin  has  been  able 
to  make  but  little  havoc  in  these  living,  divinely- 
preserved  commentaries  on  the  Written  Word.  And 
more  than  this,  the  simple,  everyday  features  of 


THE  BIBLE  IN  PALESTINE. 


21 


Palestine  life,  when  once  recognised,  throw,  in  very 
many  instances,  a  broad  flood  of  light  across  the 
pages  of  the  Bible.  The  identification  of  the  site  of 
a  city  may  serve  to  explain  one  or  two  important 
narratives,  bnt  the  discovery  of  an  ancient  custom, 
a  regular  atmospherical  phenomenon,  or  a  technical 
expression  still  on  the  lips  of  the  people,  may  give 
a  new  force — ay,  perhaps  a  new  meaning — to  a 
hundred  passages.  That  this  is  really  the  case  I 
trust  to  show  in  many  parts  of  the  following 
pages. 


(  22  ) 


CHAPTER  II. 

MISCELLANE  0  US  ILL  US  TEA  TIONS. 

“I  use  similitudes  by  the  ministry  of  the  prophets.” 

— Hosea  xii.  io. 


A  VERY  familiar  feature  of  Eastern  life  meets  the 
traveller  as  he  enters  Palestine.  Upon  his  first 
stepping  ashore  at  Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa,  he 
sees  around  the  landing  stage  a  shouting,  struggling 
crowd  of  porters.  These  men,  whose  occupation  is 
known  in  Arabic  as  that  of  the  ’ atal ,  or  hammed , 
contend  frantically  for  his  belongings,  which  one 
of  their  number  finally  carries  away  upon  his 
back  to  the  traveller’s  hotel.  Such  ’ odals  find 
regular  employment  in  all  the  towns,  for  the 
absence  of  carts  renders  their  services  constantly 
necessary.  They  are  generally  clad  in  a  coarse, 
almost  indestructible  tunic  of  camers-hair  cloth. 
Their  sole  stock-in-trade  is  a  stout  rope  about  five 
yards  long. 

The  weights  that  these  men  will  lift,  and  under 
which  they  will  stagger  along  for  a  considerable 
distance,  are  truly  amazing.  Immense  packing- 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


23 


cases,  full  of  heavy  articles,  sacks  of  wheat  and 
other  produce,  or  large  pieces  of  furniture,  as  the 
case  may  he,  are  first  piled  up  together.  The  ’atal, 
or  porter,  then  crouches  down  with  his  hack  against 
the  heaped-up  articles  which  are  to  form  his  load, 
and  having  skilfully  arranged  his  rope  without  any 
knots  so  as  to  catch  and  sustain  them  all,  and  taking 
one  end  of  it  in  each  hand,  with  a  sudden  spring 
rises  to  his  feet,  and  brings  the  whole  weight  to 
hear  upon  his  shoulders  and  the  upper  part  of  his 
hack.  In  this  effort  to  rise,  they  have  a  liahit  of 
emptying  their  lungs  hy  the  expiration  of  hreath  in 
a  loud  kind  of  grunt.  Men  amongst  ourselves 
engaged  in  very  heavy  lifting  labour  make  just  the 
same  noise  when  in  the  act  of  putting  their  system 
to  an  unusually  violent  strain.  But  for  the  relief 
afforded  hy  this  sudden  expiration  they  would  he  in 
imminent  danger  of  rupturing  a  blood-vessel.  I 
have  often  gazed  at  these  poor  fellows  with  mingled 
wonder  and  pity,  as  I  have  seen  them  staggering 
past  me  along  the  broken  and  slippery  stone  paths 
of  the  streets  in  Jerusalem,  bowed  down  under 
burdens  so  huge  in  bulk  and  heavy  in  weight  as  to 
seem  altogether  beyond  human  strength.  Certainly 
no  class  of  men  in  any  country  earn  a  harder  liveli¬ 
hood,  or  are  exposed  to  a  severer  strain.  Were  not 
the  physical  powers  of  these  Syrian  peasants,  where 
patient  endurance  is  in  question,  developed  in  a 


24 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


very  remarkable  degree,  they  could  not  engage  all 
day  long  in  such  work. 

It  would  seem  that  the  reference  to  grievous 
distresses  under  the  figure  of  “burdens/’  so  fre¬ 
quently  occurring  in  the  poetical  portions  of  Scrip¬ 
ture,  receives  much  force  from  a  consideration  of 
the  above  facts.  Moses  complains  to  God,  “  Thou 
layest  the  burden  of  all  this  people  upon  me,” 
in  allusion  to  the  crushing  weight  of  responsibility 
involved  in  conducting  the  helpless  and  thankless 
crowds  of  Israel  through  the  desert  of  Sinai,  before 
his  labours  were  -  lightened  by  the  appointment  of 
seventy  elders.1 

David  says  in  his  anguish  of  soul — 

“  Mine  iniquities  are  gone  over  my  head, 

As  a  heavy  burden,  they  are  too  heavy  for  me.”  2 

Constantly  have  I  seen  the  porter’s  huge  load  reach¬ 
ing  far  over  and  above  his  head,  which  he  has  had 
to  hold  down  on  this  account  in  a  bowed  and  painful 
position.  It  was  probably  from  this  text  that  the 
“glorious  dreamer”  took  the  idea  which  he  has 
embodied  in  the  first  scenes  of  his  Pilgrims  Pro¬ 
gress.  All  the  illustrations  that  I  have  noticed  of 
this  subject  set  forth  Christian  at  the  beginning  of 
his  way  as  bearing  on  his  back  a  good-sized  bundle, 
such  as^  might  be  carried  by  a  strong  man  with 

1  Numbers  xi.  II,  25.  2  Psalm  xxxviii.  4. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


25 


comparative  ease.  Yery  different  was  the  familiar 
picture  that  rose  before  David  when  he  thought  of 
a  wearied  soul  burdened  beyond  measure  by  a  deep 
conviction  of  sin,  a  picture  no  doubt  such  as  I  have 
attempted  to  describe,  and  which  was  daily  to  he 
witnessed  from  his  palace  windows.  I  would  com¬ 
mend  it  to  the  notice  of  any  who  may  in  future 
illustrate  Bunyan’s  allegory.  And  here  let  me  say, 
in  passing,  that  the  highly  conventional  and  unreal 
character  of  most  of  the  pictures  to  he  met  with  in 
hooks  of  Scriptural  scenes  and  Scriptural  subjects 
is  much  to  be  deplored.  A  well  and  truthfully 
illustrated  Bible  is  a  great  want  of  the  age.  Dore, 
whose  work  in  this  respect  has  been  so  much 
admired,  is  full  of  inaccuracies.  For  instance,  in 
the  meeting  of  Isaac  and  Bebekah,  he  represents 
the  bride  in  the  act  of  stepping  off  her  camel  while 
it  remains  standing,  in  entire  ignorance  of  the  fact 
that  at  mounting  or  descending  this  tall  quadruped 
is  always  made  to  kneel  down  ! 

In  the  prophets  the  “  burden  ”  is  used  as  a  most 
expressive  metaphor  to  set  forth  the  denunciation  of 
heavy  judgments.1  Our  Blessed  Lord,  too,  has  a 
plain  reference  to  the  toil  of  the  ’atal  when,  speaking 
of  the  cruelly  oppressive  ceremonial  traditions  forced 

1  Isaiah  xiii.  1 ;  xv.  I ;  xvii.  1 ;  xix.  1 ;  xxiii.  1 ;  xxx.  6  ;  J eremiah 
xxiii.  33,  34,  36,  38;  Lamentations  ii.  14;  Ezekiel  xii.  10;  Hosea 
viii.  10  ;  Nahum  i.  1  ;  Habakkuk  i.  1,  &c. 


2  6 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


upon  the  people  by  the  hypocritical  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  He  tells  ns  that  these  spiritual  task¬ 
masters  “  bind  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to 
be  borne,  and  lay  them  on  men’s  shoulders ;  but 
they  themselves  will  not  move  them  with  their 
finger.”  1  In  beautiful  contrast  to  such  wearisome 
ritualistic  and  ceremonial  observances,  that  only 
tend  to  bondage  and  oppression,  Jesus  emphatically 
declares,  “  My  burden  is  light.”  2 

A  picturesque  and  evidently  ancient  custom 
is  still  lingering  in  the  chief  cities  of  Egypt, 
and  forms  one  of  the  many  strange  contrasts 
of  ancient  and  modern  civilisation  to  be  wit¬ 
nessed  in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs.  When  people 
of  wealth  or  position  drive  abroad  in  the  European 
carriages  which  have  taken  the  place  of  the  cum¬ 
brous  chariots  of  former  days,  they  are  preceded  by 
an  attendant,  who  is  called  a  sctis,  or  groom,  and 
whose  duty  it  is  to  run  on  foot  at  some  distance  in 
advance  of  the  carriage.  As  almost  every  office  or 
service  throughout  the  East  is  distinguished  by  its 
own  peculiar  costume,  these  men  are  all  habited 
alike.  Their  dress  is  peculiarly  light  and  pic¬ 
turesque.  The  feet  and  lower  part  of  the  legs  are 
bare.  Their  spotlessly  white  tunic  has  large,  flow¬ 
ing,  fanshaped  sleeves,  which  as  they  begin  to  run, 
1  Matthew  xxiii.  4.  2  Matthew  xi.  30. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


27 


holding  their  arms  stretched  out,  appear  like  wings. 
This  tunic  is  gathered  in  by  a  scarf  round  the  waist, 
and  above  it  they  wear  a  short,  sleeveless,  velvet 
jacket  profusely  embroidered  with  gold  or  silver 
lace ;  and  in  their  hands  they  carry  a  long  light 
wand. 

Their  office  is  to  clear  the  way  before  their  mas¬ 
ter’s  equipage,  to  open  gates,  to  announce  his  coming, 
and  to  wait  upon  him  when  the  carriage  halts. 
They  use  their  wands  freely  on  all  who  occupy  the 
road  and  do  not  at  once  withdraw,  often  breaking 
them  over  the  shoulders  of  those  who  pay  no  heed 
to  their  warning  cry.  Their  speed,  strength,  and 
powers  of  endurance  are  remarkable.  People  drive 
at  a  very  rapid  rate  in  Cairo.  Those  who  have 
walked  through  its  narrow  streets  have  experienced 
the  great  risk  of  injury  to  which  foot-passengers 
are  exposed  on  this  account.  Yet  an  Egyptian 
sccis  will  run,  without  stopping,  before  his  master’s 
carriage  driven  thus  swiftly  for  a  distance  of  twelve 
miles  !  The  Viceroy  only  allows  a  subject,  however 
great  his  rank,  to  be  attended  by  one  sais,  and  the 
equipages  of  the  royal  family  are  always  known  by 
the  accompaniment  of  two  such  grooms  or  out¬ 
runners.  These  attendants  also  go  with  their  em¬ 
ployers  when  they  ride  on  horseback.  A  similar 
custom  exists,  as  travellers  tell  us,  in  the  chief  cities 
of  Persia.  That  it  should  have  almost  died  out  in 


23 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Palestine  itself  and  most  of  the  surrounding  districts 
is  fully  accounted  for  by  the  want  of  settled  govern¬ 
ment,  the  general  poverty  which  prevails  in  these 
parts,  and  the  ruined  state  of  the  roads,  which  entirely 
precludes  the  use  of  any  wheeled  vehicle. 

The  modern  sais  of  Egypt  appears  to  perform  the 
part  of  the  “  runner,”  or  “  footman,”  frequently  re¬ 
ferred  to  in  the  Bible  as  attached  to  the  household 
of  kings  and  nobles.  When  Samuel  warned  the 
people  of  “  the  manner  of  the  king  ”  that  they  so 
eagerly  desired  to  reign  over  them,  amongst  other 
hard  services  that  the  monarch  would  exact,  he 
enumerated  this,  and  put  it  at  the  head  of  a  long 
list,  as  one  of  the  most  laborious  and  oppressive. 
“  Your  sons  he  will  take  and  appoint  for  himself, 
for  his  chariots  and  his  horsemen ;  and  they  shall 
run  before  his  chariots.” 1  We  read  that  when 
Absalom  began  to  conspire  against  his  father  and 
to  assume  royal  honours,  he  “  prepared  for  himself 
chariots  and  horses,  and  fifty  men  to  run  before 
him.”2  When  some  eight  years  afterwards  Adonijah, 
the  son  of  Haggith,  “  exalted  himself,  saying,  ‘  I  will 
be  king/  ”  he  did  precisely  the  same  thing.3  These 
facts  lend  great  force  to  the  act  of  Elijah,  who  in 
an  ecstasy  of  joy  and  zeal  at  the  triumph  of  Jehovah, 
and  desirous  to  “  honour  the  king  ”  who  for  a  brief 
moment  had  honoured  God,  when  the  hand  of  the 
1  Samuel  viii.  1 1.  2  2  Samuel  xv.  1.  3  1  Kings  i.  5. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  29 

Lord  came  upon  him,  “  girded  up  his  loins,  and  ran 
before  Ahab  to  the  entrance  of  Jezreel,”  1 — that  is, 
for  a  distance  of  some  twenty  miles  or  more  across 
the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon  the  man  of  God  acted  as 
the  sais  or  runner  of  the  king,  clearing  a  way  for  his 
chariot  and  announcing  his  arrival !  Possibly,  from 
the  haste  with  which  the  king  started  on  his  un- 
foreseen  journey,  urged  by  Elijah,  none  of  the  royal 
outrunners  were  at  hand  or  in  readiness  to  attend 
upon  their  master;  and  viewed  in  this  light  the  act 
of  the  prophet,  though  not  the  less  miraculous,  ap¬ 
pears  the  more  natural,  loyal,  and  chivalrous. 

Would  not  this  office  of  the  outrunner  appear 
to  furnish  the  graphic  and  forcible  allusion  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  in  the  conclusion  of  the  passage  where 
he  speaks  of  that  hope  in  Christ  which  is  the  sheet- 
anchor  of  the  soul  ?  Describing  this  hope  as  an 
anchor  thrown  on  high  “  which  entereth  into  the 
part  within  the  veil,”  that  is,  the  spot  typified  by 
the  Holy  of  Holies,  heaven  itself,  he  adds,  with  that 
sudden  change  of  figure  which  is  so  characteristic  of 
his  terse  and  vigorous  style,  “whither  Jesus  entered 
for  us  as  a  forerunner.”  2  What  a  depth  of  mean¬ 
ing  is  here !  He  who  came  “  not  to  be  minis¬ 
tered  unto,  but  to  minister,”  and  who  condescended 
to  be  among  His  people  on  earth  “  as  one  who 
serveth,”  seems  to  Paul  like  the  “  runner,”  who  just 
1  1  Kings  xviii.  44-46.  2  Hebrews  vi.  20. 


30 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


precedes  by  a  little  the  chariot  of  the  prince  to  pre¬ 
pare  bis  way,  and  to  enter  into  the  gates  of  the 
palace  and  take  possession  in  his  name.  His  people, 
whom  He  has  Himself  declared  are  to  be  “  kings  ” 
unto  God,  and.  of  whom  He  has  said  that,  even  when 
He  is  in  heaven,  verily  “  He  will  gird  Himself,  and 
make  them  to  sit  down  to  meat,  and  will  come  forth 
and  serve  them/’  are  represented,  for  “  their  strong 
consolation,”  as  themselves  already  taking  possession 
in  Jesus  of  the  Father’s  House.  He  as  their  out¬ 
runner  is  pictured  by  the  Apostle  as  having  entered 
in  only  a  brief  moment  earlier  to  appear  in  heaven 
for  them,  to  announce  their  arrival,  and  to  be  pre¬ 
pared  to  receive  and  wait  upon  them  there  !  Thus 
is  it  ever  with  Him,  our  merciful  Saviour,  who,  be¬ 
cause  He  is  God,  lives  to  serve  and  succour  those 
of  His  faithful  creatures  who  are  the  work  of  His 
hands,  the  redeemed  of  His  blood,  and  the  joy  of 
His  heart,  and  Who  has  repeatedly  condescended  to 
set  forth  the  nature  of  that  service  He  so  tenderly 
affords  them  under  figures  of  the  lowliest  offices. 

One  of  the  characteristic  sights  of  Palestine, 
shortly  after  the  harvest  has  been  gathered  in,  is 
the  measuring  out  of  wheat  and  barley,  which  some¬ 
times  takes  place  in  the  corn-market,  but  more 
frequently  in  the  courtyard  of  the  purchaser’s  house. 
All  families  at  this  time,  that  is  during  July  and 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  3  I 

August,  lay  up  in  store  the  wheat  which  will  be 
required  to  provide  bread  for  the  use  of  the  house¬ 
hold  throughout  the  ensuing  year,  and  also  barley 
sufficient  for  their  horses,  mules,  and  asses  during 
the  same  period.  Samples  are  procured  either  from 
the  farmer  or  merchant,  and  when  approved  the 
wdiole  quantity  ordered  is  delivered  to  the  purchaser 
bound  up  in  sacks.  A  professional  measurer  is 
always  present  on  these  occasions,  and  in  the  pre¬ 
sence  of  the  seller  and  buyer,  or  their  represen¬ 
tatives,  duly  proceeds  to  ascertain  the  contents  of 
each  sack.  This  is  done  by  meting  out  the  grain  in 
a  circular  wooden  measure  in  the  shape  of  our  own 
bushel  measure,  but  less  deep,  called  in  Arabic  a 
timneh.  The  measurer  seats  himself  cross-legged 
on  the  ground,  and  proceeds  to  shovel  the  wheat  or 
barley,  as  the  case  may  be,  into  the  timneh  with 
both  his  hands  until  it  is  partly  full.  Next  he 
seizes  the  measure,  and  shakes  it  strongly  from  side 
to  side,  by  means  of  two  or  three  rapid  half  turns 
without  raising  it  from  the  ground,  in  order  that  the 
grain  may  settle  into  a  smaller  space.  This  quick 
shaking  together  of  the  corn  is  a  striking  part  of  the 
process,  and  is  very  effective  in  forcing  it  to  occupy 
less  room.  He  then  fills  it  further,  and  repeats  the 
shaking  from  side  to  side,  going  over  the  same  thing 
again  and  again  until  it  is  full  up  to  the  brim.  As 
soon  as  this  is  the  case,  he  gently  but  firmly  presses 


32 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


upon  it  with  his  hands,  so  as  to  drive  it  into  a  yet 
smaller  space.  Finally,  having  first  made  a  slight 
hollow  on  the  top,  he  takes  some  more  handfuls  of 
grain,  and  very  skilfully  constructs  a  cone  of  corn 
upon  the  flat  surface  of  the  timneh,  which  he  has 
now  filled.  He  continues  carefully  to  build  up  this 
cone  until  no  more  grain  can  possibly  be  held,  and 
that  which  he  adds  begins  to  flow  over  and  run 
down.  Upon  this  the  measure  is  considered  to  be 
of  full  weight,  and  is  emptied  into  the  purchaser’s 
sack.  This  is  the  universal  method  by  which  grain 
is  now  meted  out,  and  the  price  is  always  quoted  at 
so  much  per  timneh. 

These  professional  measurers  are  often  dishonest, 
taking  bribes  from  seller  or  buyer,  and  in  this  case 
are  very  skilful  in  cheating  either  party  as  it  suits 
their  purpose.  If  it  is  to  their  interest  to  do  so, 
while  apparently  going  through  the  ordinary  process, 
they  can  so  contrive  as  to  bring  the  contents  of  the 
measure  to  half  a  rottle,  or  three  pounds,  less  than 
the  proper  quantity,  involving  a  loss  to  the  purchaser 
of  over  six  per  cent.  On  the  other  hand,  their  dis¬ 
honesty  more  commonly  favours  the  merchants  and 
townspeople,  who  buy  from  the  poor  fellahheen ,  the 
peasants.  The  cunning  of  the  measurers  in  this 
wmy  is  said  to  be  brought  to  the  highest  degree  at 
Nablous ,  the  ancient  Shechem.  If  one  of  them  in 
that  town  is  bribed  by  the  buyer  of  wheat,  not  only 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


33 


does  he  bring  his  measure  to  take  np  the  largest 
possible  quantity,  but  in  raising  it  up  after  it  is 
flowing  over,  he  secretly  lifts  up  with  the  hand  sup¬ 
porting  the  bottom  of  the  measure  a  considerable 
quantity  of  grain,  which  is  so  swiftly  and  adroitly 
done  as  to  escape  the  observation  of  the  fellahh 
who  is  selling  it. 

I  have  taken  means  carefully  to  ascertain  the 
capacity  of  the  Palestine  timneh }  It  is  true,  diffe¬ 
rent  kinds  of  wheat  differ  in  weight.  The  following 
measures  give  the  contents  in  the  case  of  the  best 
quality.  A  timneh  filled  up  to  the  brim,  without 
being  shaken  or  pressed,  weighs  six  rottles  and  one- 
sixth,  or  just  thirty-seven  pounds.  The  same  timneh, 
not  only  filled  to  the  top  but  running  over,  that  is, 
piled  up  above  in  the  shape  of  a  cone,  also  without 
being  pressed  and  shaken,  weighs  seven  rottles  and 
one-third,  or  forty-four  pounds.  When,  however, 
the  measure  in  question  is  not  only  filled  till  it 
flows  over,  but  is,  at  the  same  time,  shaken  together 
and  pressed  down,  it  holds  just  eight  rottles,  or  forty- 
eight  pounds. 

No  doubt  it  is  to  this  simple  and  familiar  custom 
that  our  Blessed  Lord  alludes,  when  He  speaks 

1  In  the  villages  another  measure,  about  half  the  size  of  the 
timneh,  is  in  use,  called  a  sciah,  which  is  evidently  the  same  as  the 
HND,  seah,  of  Scripture  (Genesis  xviii.  6  ;  i  Samuel  xxv.  18 ;  2  Kings 

vii.  i).  The  modern  sciah  varies  slightly  in  size  in  different  villages. 

C 


34 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


under  an  allegory  of  tlie  recompense  of  those  liberal 
souls  who  shall  assuredly  themselves  be  made 
fat.  “  Give,  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you ;  good 
measure,  pressed  down,  shaken  together,  running 
over,  shall  they  give  into  your  bosom  [that  is, 
into  the  capacious  natural  pocket  formed  by  that 
part  of  the  loose  Eastern  shirt  which  is  above 
the  girdle].  Eor  with  what  measure  ye  mete 
it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.”  1  The  above 
facts  lend  far  more  power  and  definiteness  to  our 
Saviour’s  graphic  illustration  than  we  should  at  first 
sight  have  supposed  it  to  contain.  There  is  no  less 
than  eleven  pounds’  difference  in  weight  between  a 
“  measure  ”  filled  to  the  brim  as  we  should  fill  it 
here,  and  one  such  as  I  have  described  filled  accord- 
ing  to  the  bountiful  method  of  Bible  lands,  when 
it  is  “  pressed  down,  shaken  together,  running  over.” 
In  this  latter  case  no  less  than  about  30  per  cent, 
is  added  to  its  worth !  Thus  largely  shall  they  be 
rewarded  who  have  learned  to  imitate  the  example  of 
their  God  and  Saviour  in  the  divine  art  of  generous 
giving ! 


A  practice  to  be  constantly  noticed  throughout 
Syria  is  that  of  hiding  any  blood,  which  may  happen 
to  be  spilled  on  the  ground,  by  covering  it  over  with 
the  surrounding  soil  or  dust.  If  while  you  are  on 

I  Luke  vi.  38.  See  also  Matthew  vii.  2,  and  Mark  iv.  24. 


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35 


a  journey  a  Bedaween  of  your  escort  only  so  much 
as  cuts  his  hand,  or  suffers  from  bleeding  at  the 
nose,  he  is  very  careful  to  let  the  blood  fall  upon 
the  earth,  without  leaving  any  stain  upon  his  cloth- 
ing  or  person,  and  he  then  and  there  buries  it  out 
of  sight  by  scraping  over  it  the  sand  or  dust  of  the 
desert  before  he  proceeds  on  his  way.  The  reason 
which  they  give  for  this  observance  I  have  not  been 
able  to  discover.  Most  probably  it  comes  from  the 
thought  in  Numbers  that  blood  pollutes  the  land  if 
left  to  lie  upon  it,1  and  from  the  plain  direction  in 
the  case  of  the  huntsman  who  caught  any  beast  or 
fowl,  to  “  pour  out  the  blood  thereof,  and  cover  it 
with  dust.”  2  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this 
direction,  like  many  other  matters  contained  in  the 
law,  embodied  and  sanctioned  an  already  well-known 
and  universal  practice.  Very  likely  it  arose  from 
anxiety  lest  any  blood  appearing  upon  the  ground 
might  by  any  possibility  be  construed  to  represent 
some  act  of  violence,  and  thus,  in  the  language  of 
Scripture,  “  cause  fury  to  come  up  to  take  ven¬ 
geance.”  This,  in  a  land  where  the  law  of  blood- 
revenge  causing  endless  sanguinary  family  feuds  is 
so  stringent,  may  well  be  no  imaginary  fear.  In 
any  case,  it  is  deeply  interesting  to  mark  its  obser¬ 
vance  at  the  present  day.  It  would  seem  to  be 
referred  to  in  the  strong  figurative  language  of 

1  Numbers  xxxv.  33.  2  Leviticus  xvii.  13. 


36 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


several  passages,  notably  that  where  Job  in  the 
bitterness  of  his  soul  cries, 

“  Earth,  cover  not  thou  my  blood.” 1 

A  very  striking  Scripture  in  connection  with  this 
Eastern  usage  is  that  in  Ezekiel,  where  God  foretells 
the  judgments  coming  upon  Jerusalem  at  the  hands 
of  the  Chaldeans.  These  judgments  are  declared 
to  be  a  retribution  for  the  reckless  violence  and 
cruelty  that  had  openly  stalked  through  her  streets. 
“Eor  her  blood  is  in  the  midst  of  her;  she  set  it 
upon  the  bare  rock ;  she  hath  not  poured  it  upon  the 
ground ,  to  cover  it  with  dust.  That  it  may  cause 
fury  to  come  up  to  take  vengeance,  I  have  set  her 
blood  upon  the  bare  rock,  that  it  should  not  be 
covered.”  2  There  is  here  a  force  of  meaning  that 
might  at  first  sight  be  overlooked.  Jerusalem,  as  I 
shall  have  occasion  elsewhere  to  explain  at  length, 
is  essentially  a  rock  city.  The  rock  crops  up  to 
the  surface  in  every  part  of  it.  In  ancient  times, 
before  the  rugged  slopes  and  precipices  of  limestone 
and  indurated  chalk  were  choked  up  and  covered 
over,  as  they  are  now,  by  mountains  of  debris,  it 
appeared,  as  at  the  fortress  of  Jebus,  with  its  walls 
resting  on  rock  scarps  in  some  places  fifty  feet  high. 
Hence  one  of  its  proud  titles  was  “  the  Tableland 
rock,”  a  name  given  to  it  in  another  passage  where 

2  Ezekiel  xxiv.  7,  8. 


1  Job  xvi.  18. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


37 


its  judgment  is  denounced.1  But  this  natural 
stronghold  of  Zion,  alas  !  was  constantly  the  scene  of 
internal  robbery  and  oppression,  of  bigotry,  cruelty, 
and  persecution.  This  history  of  violence  was 
summed  up  by  our  Blessed  Lord  in  the  solemn 
words,  “  It  cannot  be  that  a  prophet  perish  out  of 
Jerusalem/’ 2  that  is,  in  any  other  place  but  that 
guilty  city  !  Thus  in  the  passage  I  have  cited  from 
Ezekiel,  God  says,  as  it  were,  “  I  have  not  allowed 
these  cruel  persecutions  to  take  place  in  the  pro¬ 
vinces,  but  in  Jerusalem,  of  which  you  boast  as  ‘  the 
tableland  rock/  that  there  on  this  stony  strong¬ 
hold  you  might  not  be  able  to  find  soil  enough 
to  cover  up  and  hide  from  my  sight  the  blood  of 
the  martyred  saints  and  the  innocent  poor  who 
have  suffered  at  your  hands,  but  that  it  might 
remain  exposed,  as  a  witness  against  you,  and 
‘  cause  fury  to  come  up/  by  crying  to  me  for 
vengeance ! ” 


The  lighting  of  camp-fires  is  a  constant  and  very 
noticeable  feature  of  journeys  in  the  Holy  Land. 
Fuel  for  this  purpose  is  afforded  by  the  low,  woody, 
herbaceous  growth,  partaking  largely  of  a  thorny 
nature,  which  abounds  in  the  deserts,  and  is  to  be 
met  with  by  the  wayside  in  most  parts  of  the 


1  Jeremiah  xxi.  13. 


2  Luke  xiii.  33. 


33 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


country.  The  “  fire  of  thorns  ”  is  often  alluded  to 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  every  resident  in  Pales¬ 
tine  has  reason  to  know  what  a  familiar  sight  it  is.1 
Easterns,  who  have  a  great  dread  of  darkness  and  a 
passionate  fondness  for  light,  seem  to  rejoice  to  seize 
every  opportunity  of  making  these  bonfires,  and  con¬ 
tinuing  them  far  into  the  night.  They  particularly 
delight  in  the  crackling  and  the  bright  flames  which 
thorn  bushes  specially  throw  out.  They  kindle 
these  fires,  however,  as  much  for  protection  as  for 
pleasure.  The  -  lurid  light  thus  given  serves  to 
scare  away  the  wild  beasts  which  come  out  at  night 
in  many  lonely  places,  and  also  to  show  to  those 
on  the  watch  the  approach  of  thieves  and  robbers. 
When  travelling  under  the  escort  of  Bcclawcen  Arabs 
in  certain  dangerous  parts  of  the  desert,  travellers 
have  observed  that  their  wild  escort  keep  up  watch- 
fires  round  the  camp  all  night,  while  the  “  keepers,” 
or  guards,  shout  out  at  intervals  to  render  the  pro¬ 
tection  more  complete.  On  one  occasion,  while 
travelling  through  the  waterless  desert  leading  to 

o  O  O 

Palmyra,  when  within  a  short  distance  of  its  ruins, 

1  Psalm  cxviii.  12;  Isaiah  xxxiii.  12.  Sometimes  the  mention 
of  fire  in  connection  with  thorns  refers  to  large  conflagrations 
kindled  in  autumn.  These  extensive  fires  are  lighted  to  clear 
the  stubble  lands  of  their  wild  growth,  amongst  which  thorny 
plants  of  many  kinds  are  very  numerous  (Exodus  xxii.  6  ;  2  Samuel 
xxiii.  6,  7 ;  Nahum  i.  10).  The  context  generally  shows  which  kind 
of  fire  is  meant. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


39 


I  had  to  pass  a  large  camp  of  the  ’ Anazeh  tribe  of 
Bedaween.  I  was  travelling  all  night,  accompanied 
by  a  friend  and  a  government  escort  of  soldiers. 
For  an  hour  before  we  drew  near  to  them,  we  saw 
large  bright  fires  encircling  the  encampment,  and 
we  had  to  ride  far  out  of  our  way  in  order  to  avoid 
them.  The  flames  of  these  fires  were  kept  up  till 
daybreak. 

There  would  seem  to  be  a  plain  allusion  to  this 
practice  in  the  promise  of  Jehovah’s  safeguard  over 
Jerusalem  in  millennial  times.  “Jerusalem  shall 
abide  as  the  country  parts,  for  the  multitude  of  men 
and  cattle  therein.  And  I,  saitli  Jehovah,  will 
be  unto  her  a  wall  of  fire  round  about.” 1  All 
Eastern  cities  to  this  day  are  surrounded  with  high 
massive  walls  and  stout  iron-plated  and  iron-barred 
gates.  The  security,  wealth,  and  safety  of  Israel’s 
metropolis  during  the  fulness  of  Messiah’s  kingdom 
is  shown  in  this  representation  by  its  walls  being 
thrown  down,  its  boundaries  immensely  enlarged, 
and  its  being  inhabited  like  a  vast  camp  over  which 
the  Lord  Himself  continually  watches. 

Still  clearer  is  the  reference  to  these  camp-fires 
kindled  for  protection,  in  a  passage  in  Isaiah.  The 
prophet,  after  administering  comfort  to  the  faithful 
in  Israel,  proceeds  to  warn  the  faithless  and  self- 
righteous  of  the  utter  futility  of  their  carnal  efforts 

1  Zechariah  ii.  4,  5* 


40  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

to  seek  salvation.  To  all  who  fear  Jehovah  he 
says — 

“  Let  him  that  walketh  in  darkness, 
and  hath  no  light, 

Trust  in  the  name  of  Jehovah, 

And  stay  himself  upon  his  God.” 1 

But  to  the  unbelievers  he  cries,  in  the  next  verse, 

“  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire, 

That  gird  you  about  with  flames  ! 

Walk  in  the  light  of  your  fire, 

And  in  the  flames  ye  have  lighted  ; 

This  shall  ye  have  from  my  hand  ; 

Ye  shall  die  down  in  sorrow.” 

Here  the  girding  about  with  flames,  evidently  as  a 
means  of  protection  in  the  darkness,  is  connected 
with  laying  down  to  sleep.  Yet  their  rest  shall 
be  broken  by  trouble  and  sorrow,  notwithstanding 
all  the  flames  of  the  watch-fires  with  which  they 
are  surrounded. 

Speaking  of  the  great  services  that  the  Jews 
are  to  receive  from  those  Gentile  nations  which 
have  persecuted  them  in  the  past  at  the  time  when 
they  are  to  be  restored  to  their  own  land,  the  Lord 
declares  by  the  prophet  Isaiah — 

“  I  will  lift  up  my  band  to  the  nations, 

•  ••••• 

And  thy  daughters  shall  be  carried  upon 
their  shoulders.”  2 


1  Isaiah  1.  io. 


2  Isaiah  xlix.  22. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


41 


Here  is  a  most  significant  picture,  and  yet  one 
the  meaning  and  power  of  which  is  entirely  hidden 
from  the  Western  reader. 

Children  in  the  East,  though  sometimes  folded  to 
the  bosom,  by  being  placed  within  the  wide  natural 
pocket  of  the  robe,  or  slung  in  a  scarf  across  the 
back,  or  borne  astride  upon  the  hip,  are  not 
carried  upon  the  arm  in  that  laborious  fashion 
common  with  us.  Instead  of  this,  as  soon  as  the 
swaddling-clothes  are  removed — those  long  cotton 

O  O 

bandages  which,  during  its  earliest  infancy,  bind  the 
body  of  the  helpless  child  into  a  small  mummy¬ 
like  bundle 1 — the  nurse  begins  to  accustom  her 
charge  to  sit  astride  upon  her  shoulder.  She  teaches 
it  at  first  to  support  itself  by  clinging  with  its  baby 
fingers  to  the  top  of  her  head,  while  she  herself 
simply  places  one  hand  against  the  lower  part  of 
the  child’s  back.  This  method  is  generally  adopted 
when  mothers  or  nurses  carry  their  children,  and 
Egyptian  sculptures  show  that  it  was  just  the  same 
four  thousand  years  ago.  It  serves  two  important 
ends.  Eirst  of  all,  it  lightens  labour,  helps  to 

1  Luke  ii.  7,  12.  See  also  Ezekiel  xvi.  4;  and  observe  the 
very  bold  figure  in  Job  xxxviii.  9.  It  will  explain  the  allusion 
in  Ezekiel  xvi.  4,  “  Thou  wast  not  salted  at  all,  nor  swaddled 
at  all,”  to  bear  in  mind,  that,  to  this  day  in  Palestine,  salt  is 
nibbed  into  the  body  of  a  new-born  infant,  before  it  is  wrapped 
round  with  swaddling  clothes,  that  is,  plain  bands  of  calico  some 
six  inches  wide  by  three  yards  in  length. 


42 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


improve  rather  than  to  injure  the  figure  of  the 
nurse  by  expanding  instead  of  contracting  her 
chest,  strengthening  her  spine,  and  making  her  more 
upright,  and,  when  the  child  has  learned,  as  it  soon 
does,  to  support  itself  alone,  possesses  the  great 
advantage  of  leaving  both  her  arms  and  hands  free. 
But  more  than  this,  it  teaches  every  child  from  its 
earliest  years  to  ride  on  horseback.  It  exercises 
from  infancy  those  muscles  of  the  knees  by  which 
the  proper  riding  grip  should  be  taken,  giving  in 
after  years  that  fearless  and  immovable  seat  for 
which  Eastern  equestrians  are  justly  famous,  and 
which  it  is  so  necessary  to  possess  in  a  country 
where  all  journeys  have  to  be  performed  in  the 
saddle,  and  where  women  sit  astride  a  horse  like 
men.  An  Emeer,  or  prince  of  the  Lebanon,  will 
place  a  sovereign  between  his  knee  and  the  saddle, 
and  after  a  day’s  coursing  or  hawking  will  produce 
it  again.  I  mention  this  in  passing,  but  it  will  be 
seen  at  once  that  “  to  be  carried  on  the  shoulder  ” 
means  to  receive  the  tender  and  respectful  care 
which  the  nurse  or  slave-girl  of  Palestine  invari¬ 
ably  shows  to  her  young  charge.  This  graphic 
and  picturesque  figure  tells  how  Israel  will  find 
in  their  former  proud  persecutors  humble  and 
loyal  servants.  The  new-born  children  of  God 
will  be  carried  home  by  the  awe-stricken  and 
penitent  nations  as  by  eager  and  willing  slaves  ! 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


43 


This  meaning  is  confirmed  by  the  following 
verses : — 

“  And  kings  shall  be  thy  nursing  fathers, 

And  their  princesses  thy  nursing  mothers. 

They  shall  bow  down  to  thee  with  their 
face  toward  the  earth, 

And  shall  lick  up  the  dust  of  thy  feet.”  1 

It  must  be  also  carefully  observed  that  girls 
throughout  the  East  do  not  at  all  receive  the  same 
attention  as  boys.  Neither  parents  nor  nurses  treat 
them  with  anything  like  the  consideration  that  they 
show  towards  “a  man-child.”  While  they  delight 
to  lift  up  the  latter  to  ride  upon  their  shoulders, 
the  girls  are  left  for  the  most  part  to  run  about  by 
themselves.  In  a  word,  the  order  which  Christianity 
has  introduced  amongst  us  is  entirely  reversed.  It 
is  the  natural  result  of  that  inferior  estimate  of 
woman,  which  is  the  outcome  of  the  polygamy  that 
has  prevailed  in  these  lands  from  time  immemorial. 
There  is,  therefore,  a  touch  of  intense  meaning  given 
to  the  picture  of  the  honour  which  God  has  in  store 
for  His  ancient  people,  when  He  declares, 

“  Thy  daughters  shall  be  carried  upon  their  shoulders.” 

Amongst  countless  examples  of  metaphor — for  this 
is  the  figure  most  frequently  used  in  Scripture — 
occurs  the  highly  poetical  language  of  David — 

1  Isaiah  xlix.  23. 


44 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


“  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 

And  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea, 
Even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me, 

And  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me.’5 1 

The  bold  metaphorical  use  of  the  leading  by  the 
right  hand  will  be  dealt  with  by  itself  in  another 
place.  But  the  former  figure,  “wings  of  the  morn¬ 
ing,”  to  a  Western  is  not  a  little  obscure.  For  my 
part,  I  cannot  doubt  that  we  are  to  understand 
certain  beautiful  light  clouds  as  thus  poetically 
described.  I  have  observed  invariably  that  in  the 
late  spring-time,  in  summer,  and  yet  more  especially 
in  the  autumn,  white  clouds  are  to  be  seen  in 
Palestine.  They  only  occur  at  the  earliest  hours 
of  morning,  just  previous  to  and  at  the  time  of 
sunrise.  It  is  the  total  absence  of  clouds  at  all 
other  parts  of  the  day,  except  during  the  short 
period  of  the  winter  rains,  that  lends  such  striking 
solemnity  and  force  to  those  descriptions  of  the 
Second  Advent  where  our  Lord  is  represented  as 
coming  in  the  clouds.2  This  feature  of  His  majesty 
loses  all  its  meaning  in  lands  like  ours,  in  which 
clouds  are  of  such  common  occurrence  that  they  are 

1  Psalm  cxxxix.  g,  io. 

2  Daniel  vii.  13  ;  Matthew  xxiv.  30;  xxvi.  64;  Mark  xiii.  26; 
xiv.  62  ;  Luke  xxi.  27  ;  Revelations  i.  7  ;  xiv.  14.  Hence,  too,  the 
very  special  significance  attaching  to  a  cloud  sheltering  Israel 
during  the  hot  and  absolutely  cloudless  months  of  summer  in  their 
desert  wanderings  through  the  burning  valleys  of  Sinai  (Exodus 
xiii.  21  ;  Numbers  x.  34;  Psalm  cv.  39) — to  a  cloud  descending 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


45 


rarely  absent  from  the  sky.  The  morning  clouds  of 
summer  and  autumn  are  always  of  a  brilliant  silvery 
white,  save  at  such  times  as  they  are  dyed  with  the 
delicate  opal  tints  of  dawn.  They  hang  low  upon 
the  mountains  of  Judah,  and  produce  effects  of 
indescribable  beauty,  as  they  float  far  down  in  the 
valleys,  or  rise  to  wrap  themselves  around  the 
summit  of  the  hills.  In  almost  every  instance,  by 
about  seven  o’clock  the  heat  has  dissipated  these 
fleecy  clouds,  and  to  the  vivid  Eastern  imagination 
morn  has  folded  her  outstretched  wings. 

Hosea  alludes  especially  to  this  fugitive  pheno¬ 
menon  of  the  hot  season,  when  he  cries  of  Israel, 

“Your  goodness  is  like  the  morning  cloud.”1 

Moreover,  clouds  are  intimately  connected  in  Pales¬ 
tine  wTith  “the  sea,”  that  is  the  Mediterranean,  “the 
Great  Sea  westward.”  When  Elijah  was  earnestly 
pleading  with  God  for  rain,  He  sent  His  servant 
up  to  the  heights  of  Carmel  to  gather  the  first 
intimation  of  an  answer  to  his  prayer.  “  Go  up, 
I  pray,”  he  said,  “and  look  towards  the  sea.”  At 

on  Sinai,  some  time  in  June  (Exodus  xix.  1 6;  xxiv.  15) — to  a  cloud 
overshadowing  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  apparently  in  summer 
(Matthew  xvii.  5) — to  a  cloud  receiving  the  ascending  Saviour  to¬ 
wards  the  end  of  May  or  the  beginning  of  June  (Acts  i.  9) — and 
to  clouds  mentioned  in  other  passages. 

1  Hosea  vi.  4.  In  our  version  it  is  “as  a  morning  cloud,”  but 
the  above  rendering,  which  is  the  true  translation  of  the  Hebrew, 
brings  out  the  special  allusion  very  distinctly. 


46 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


his  seventh  ascent  he  was  able  to  report,  “  Behold, 
there  ariseth  a  little  cloud  out  of  the  sea.”  1  This 
is  still  the  direction  from  which  all  the  clouds  in 
Palestine  invariably  come.  The  Arabs  call  the 
west  wind  “the  father  of  rain,”  in  allusion  to  its 
bringing  up  the  clouds  from  their  home  on  “the 
Great  Sea  westward.”  The  “morning  cloud,”  or 
mass  of  dense  white  mist,  consists  of  the  moisture 
brought  up  from  the  Mediterranean  by  the  prevalent 
westerly  winds  of  summer  and  autumn,  which  be¬ 
comes  condensed  on  passing  over  the  colder  night  air 
of  the  land.  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  at  length 
of  the  formation  and  inestimable  value  of  these 
remarkable  clouds  when  describing  the  “  dew,” 
for  they  constitute  a  most  peculiar  and  important 
feature  of  the  climate  of  Palestine.  A  considera¬ 
tion,  however,  of  the  foregoing  facts  will  at  once 
display  the  appropriateness  of  the  bold  and  beautiful 
metaphor — 

“  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 

O  O" 

And  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea.” 

Next  to  their  remarkably  fine  erect  figures,  per¬ 
haps  nothing  strikes  one  more  in  the  appearance 
of  the  lightly-clad  peasant  women  of  Palestine  than 
their  long,  pendant  breasts.  This  feature  may,  I 
think,  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the  great  length 

1  I  Kings  xviii.  42-45. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


47 


of  time  during  which  they  suckle  their  children. 
Infants  are  seldom,  if  ever,  weaned  amongst  the 
fellahheen ,  or  villagers,  under  two  years  of  age.  It 
is,  however,  no  extraordinary  thing  for  a  mother  to 
continue  to  give  a  “  man-child  ”  the  breast  till  the 
end  of  his  fourth  or  fifth  year.  Indeed,  our  Beth¬ 
lehem  nurse  assured  us  that  she  had  known  the 
case  of  a  favourite  child  whose  mother  had  not 
weaned  it  until  it  was  seven  years  of  age !  Girls 
would  never  be  treated  in  this  way,  meeting  as 
they  do  on  all  occasions  with  marked  neglect.  The 
native  women  believe  that  the  longer  a  child  is 
allowed  to  remain  at  the  breast  the  stronger  he 
grows.  When,  therefore,  a  boy  appears  one  of  great 
promise,  or  is  a  first-born,  or  seems  likely  to  be  the 
only  child,  the  mother,  if  it  is  possible,  nurses  him 
until  he  is  four  years  of  age. 

These  facts  are  really  important  as  rendering 
intelligible  the  early  history  of  little  Samuel.  Her 
child  was  granted  to  Hannah  at  a  time  when  she 
was  hopelessly  barren,  in  answer  to  special  prayer, 
and  she  had  dedicated  him  before  his  birth  to  the 
Lord  by  a  solemn  vow,  in  which  she  declared  she 
would  “give  him  unto  Jehovah  all  the  days  of  his 
life.”  When  he  was  born  Hannah  determined  that 
it  would  be  lawful  for  her  to  keep  him  until  he 
was  weaned,  and  doubtless,  like  all  the  women  of 
Palestine  at  the  present  day,  believed  that  the  longer 


48 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


she  could  nurse  him  the  stronger  and  better  he 
would  become.  She,  therefore,  proposed  to  stay  at 
home,  and  not  accompany  her  husband  on  his  yearly 
pilgrimage  to  Shiloh  until  the  child  was  taken  from 
the  breast,  and  “then,”  she  said,  “I  will  bring  him, 
that  he  may  appear  before  Jehovah,  and  abide  there 
for  ever.”  This  decision  thoroughly  approved  itself 
to  her  affectionate  husband.  Elkanah  said  to  her : 
“  Do  what  seemeth  thee  good ;  tarry  until  thou 
have  weaned  him;  only  Jehovah  establish  His 
word.  So  the 'woman  abode,  and  gave  her  son 
suck  until  she  weaned  him.”  1  How  many  yearly 
festivals  passed  by  before  that  event  we  are  not 
told ;  but,  from  what  has  been  said  above,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  according  to  every  usage  and  feeling  of 
the  East  at  the  present  day,  little  Samuel  was  not 
weaned  until  he  was  from  three  to  five  years  of  age, 
and  therefore  quite  old  enough  to  be  left  by  himself 
with  the  aged  high  priest,  and  to  enter  at  once 
upon  some  childish  service  in  the  sanctuary.  Doubt¬ 
less  when  the  infant  Moses  was  so  providentially 
restored  to  his  mother,  she  kept  him  at  the  breast 
much  as  Hannah  kept  Samuel,  if  only  that  she 
might  have  her  child  under  her  own  care  as  long 
as  possible. 

Everything,  too,  in  the  account  in  Genesis  of  the 
circumstances  of  Isaac’s  weaning  would  seem  to 

1  i  Samuel  i.  21-23, 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATION S. 


49 


point  to  this  remarkable  child  of  promise  as  also 
having  been  nursed  by  his  mother  for  several  years.1 
I  have  noticed  with  intense  interest  when  reading 
that  admirable  work,  The  Approaching  End  of  the 
Age ,  that  the  author  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  four  hundred  years  of  affliction  and  bondage 
foretold  as  coming  upon  Abraham’s  seed  starts  from 
the  time  when  Isaac  was  five  years  old.  He  adds : 
“  To  this  day  it  is  a  matter  of  conjecture  what  the 
event  was  which  marked  that  year,  though  there  is 
little  doubt  that  it  was  the  casting  out  of  the  bond- 
woman  and  her  son  on  the  occasion  of  the  mocking 
of  the  heir  of  promise  by  the  natural  seed.  This 
mocking,  or  'persecuting’  (Gal.  iv.  29),  is  the  first 
affliction  of  Abraham’s  seed  of  which  we  have  any 
record,  and  its  result  demonstrated  that  it  was  in 
Isaac  the  seed  was  to  be  called.” 2  These  state¬ 
ments  are  no  doubt  correct,  but  they  contain  what 
at  first  sight  appears  to  the  Western  reader  a  grave 
difficulty.  The  mocking  of  the  promised  seed  took 
place  at  the  feast  when  Isaac  was  weaned.  That 
he  should  have  been  five  years  old  on  the  day 
that  he  was  weaned  seems  unaccountable  to  us, 
but  constitutes  no  difficulty  whatever  in  Palestine. 
It  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  practice  of  the 


1  Genesis  xxi.  8-xo. 

2  The  Approaching  End  of  the  Age ,  by  Mr.  H.  Grattan  Guinness, 
2nd  edition,  p.  478. 


5o 


PALESTINE  EXFLOEED. 


East  at  the  present  day.  Under  the  circumstances 
of  his  being  a  remarkable,  long  waited  for,  and  only 
child,  it  is  rather  to  have  been  expected  than  other¬ 
wise,  that  Sarah’s  son  should  have  reached  his  fourth 
or  fifth  year  before  he  was  entirely  taken  from  the 
breast. 

A  similar  explanation  is  necessary  if  we  are  to 
attach  any  distinct  or  literal  meaning  to  the  words 
of  Isaiah — 

“  Whom  doth  he  teach  knowledge  ? 

And  whom  doth  he  make  to  understand  instruction  1 
Those  weaned  from  the  milk, 

Those  withdrawn  from  the  breasts.3’ 1 

Children  as  soon  as  they  are  weaned  amongst  us 
could  not  “  understand  instruction,”  but  in  Palestine 
weaning  takes  place  at  an  age  when  they  can  begin 
to  be  taught  knowledge.  Almost  all  Eastern  boys 
can  both  speak  and  understand  what  is  spoken  to 
them  when  first  “  withdrawn  from  the  breasts.”  It  is 
indeed  a  tender  age  at  which  to  begin,  but  one  that 
no  wise  parent  will  allow  to  pass  by  unimproved. 

Again,  our  Blessed  Lord’s  quotation, 

“  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  thou 
hast  perfected  praise,”  2 

viewed  thus,  becomes  capable  of  a  literal  sense. 

If  we  consider  a  comparison  used  by  the  Psalmist 

1  Isaiah  xxviii.  9. 

2  ^latthew  xxi.  16,  quoted  from  Psalm  viii.  2,  Septuagint  version. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


51 


in  this  light,  we  shall  see  in  it  a  new  pcover  and 
beauty.  The  words  to  which  I  allude,  attributed 
in  the  heading  of  the  Psalm  to  David,  are  those  in 
which  he  declares — 

“  I  have  calmed  and  quieted  my  soul, 

Like  a  child  that  is  weaned  by  his  mother, 

My  soul  within  me  is  even  as  a  weaned  child.”  1 

The  man  after  God’s  own  heart  is  speaking  of  his 
conscious  humility.  He  has  but  just  before  declared 
that  his  heart  is  not  haughty,  neither  has  he  exer¬ 
cised  himself  in  great  matters.  In  contrast  to  such 
proud  bearing,  his  spirit,  he  tells  us,  is  meek  and 
gentle,  like  that  of  a  young  child  of  three  years  of 
age.  To  us  the  idea  of  a  weaned  child  conveys  only 
the  thought  of  helpless  and  unintelligent  infancy, 
and  would,  therefore,  have  no  force  in  this  connec¬ 
tion.  But,  viewed  in  the  above  light,  David’s  words 
are  not  only  full  of  significant  meaning,  but  are  no 
less  than  an  expression  of  the  same  truth  taught 
afterwards  by  David’s  Lord,  when  He  “  called  to 
Him  a  little  child,  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of 
them,  and  said,  ‘  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Except 
ye  turn,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall 
in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself  as  this 
little  child,  the  same  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.’  ” 2 


1  Psalm  cxxxi.  2. 


2  Matthew  xviii.  2-4. 


52 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Throughout  Palestine,  gardens,  orchards,  and  vine¬ 
yards,  unlike  other  cultivated  spots,  are  always 
enclosed,  and  the  fence  employed  in  almost  every 
instance  is  the  common  enclosure  wall  of  the  country, 
called  a  jedar.  This  rude  and  primitive  construction 
is  formed  of  rough,  shapeless,  unhewn  stones,  of  all 
sizes.  Long  practice  has  made  the  people  very 
skilful  in  making  the  jedars ,  and  the  hard  marble¬ 
like  mizzey  rock,  which  crops  up  to  the  surface  in 
every  part  of  the  country,  affords  them  abundant 
and  excellent  material  for  this  purpose.  The  ground 
is  first  smoothed,  and  the  stones  are  then  piled  up, 
about  three  feet  in  width  at  the  bottom,  and  gradu¬ 
ally  narrowing  towards  the  top.  No  mortar  of  any 
kind  is  employed,  the  stones  merely  being  laid  so  as 
to  fit  closely  together.  The  height  varies  in  ordinary 
cases  from  four  to  six  feet.  Sometimes  they  are 
carried  up  as  high  as  twelve  feet.  The  whole  con¬ 
struction  is  of  course  comparatively  fragile ;  but  in 
some  ways  this  is  an  advantage,  for  a  thief,  whether 
man  or  beast,  cannot  easily  climb  over  it  without 
displacing  and  throwing  down  the  loose  stones,  and 
so  giving  notice  of  his  approach.  Indeed  it  is  dan¬ 
gerous  to  attempt  to  surmount  it  in  the  dark,  for 
the  climber  runs  a  great  risk  of  being  thrown  down 
and  crushed  by  the  fall  of  some  huge  fragment  of 
its  rocky  contents.  These  walls  are  sometimes 
armed  with  dried  thorn  bushes  placed  upon  the  top. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


53 


The  heavy  rain-storms  of  winter  constantly  bring 
down  portions  of  the  jedars,  by  undermining  the  soft 
foundation  of  earth  upon  which  they  are  laid,  hut 
they  are  readily  repaired  at  a  slight  expense,  without 
the  use  of  any  fresh  materials. 

Now  it  is  deeply  interesting  to  notice  that  these 
very  walls  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament.  The  Hebrew  word  gadair ,l  which  is 
twice  written  geder ,2  and  has  a  feminine  form, 
gedaimh ,3  is  evidently  the  equivalent  of  the  Arabic 
jedar.  The  softening  of  the  hard  g  into  j  in 
the  Arabic  transliteration  of  all  Hebrew  words  is 
a  well-recognised  fact.  In  this  way  the  Hebrew 
gamed,  a  camel,  becomes  jemel  in  Arabic,  and  the 
town  of  Gannim,  or  En-Gannim,  on  the  south  of  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon,  is  now  Jenin.  The  feminine 
form  gedairah  is  generally  used  of  “folds”  for  sheep, 
and  is  the  expression  employed  by  the  two  and  a 
half  tribes  when,  seeking  their  inheritance  in  Moab, 
Gilead,  and  Baslian,  they  said,  “We  will  build  sheep 
folds  here  for  our  cattle.”  4  The  common  sheepfolds 
of  Palestine  are  to  this  day  large  enclosures  formed 
of  the  jedars  which  I  have  described,  and  hence  the 
name  gedairah,  or,  as  in  modern  Arabic,  jedarah. 
When  Israel’s  final  restoration  in  millennial  times 

1  Tia  2  vm.  3  nm 

•*  T  V  *•'  • 

4  Numbers  xxxii.  16.  The  same  word  is  translated  “folds”  in 
verses  24,  36.  See  also  1  Samuel  xxiv.  3,  and  Zephaniah  ii.  6. 


54 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


is  pictured  under  the  gathering  together  of  a  strayed 
flock,  the  prophet  cries — 

“  A  day  [cometh]  for  building  thy  jedarsd 1 

When  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out  to  with¬ 
stand  Balaam,  “  he  stood  in  a  path  of  the  vineyards, 
a  jedar  being  on  this  side  and  a  jedar  on  that.”  2 
Nothing  could  be  more  natural  than  this  description. 
Vividly  it  recalls  to  my  mind  places  where  I  have 
had  to  pass  through  similar  narrow  passages,  only 
a  few  feet  across,  separating  the  massive  vineyard 
hedges  of  such  rough  unhewn  stone.  These  loose 
unmortared  walls  afford  endless  hot  dusty  crevices 
in  which  the  serpent  tribe  delight.  They  can,  more¬ 
over,  be  easily  and  swiftly  thrown  down  by  any 
mischievously-disposed  person.  There  is,  therefore, 
far  more  force,  than  appears  in  our  version,  in  that 
proverb  which  tells  how  deeds  of  violence  and  wrong 
recoil  on  the  doer — “  Whoso  breaketh  down  a  jedar, 
a  serpent  bitetli  him.”  3 

The  Psalmist,  comparing  Israel  to  a  vineyard  of 
the  Lord’s  planting,  cries  of  its  ruinous  state  in  his 
day — 

“  Why  hast  thou  broken  down  its  jedar.?, 

So  that  all  who  pass  by  the  way  do  pluck  it  ? 

The  boar  out  of  the  tangled  thicket  doth  waste  it.” 4 


1  Micali  vii.  n. 


2  Numbers  xxii.  24. 
4  Psalm  lxxx.  12. 


3  Ecclesiastes  x.  8. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


55 


In  autumn  the  wild  boars,  who  are  very  fond  of 
grapes,  still  come  up  by  night  around  the  Hebron 
vineyards,  to  plunder  and  waste  them  if  they  can 
only  find  a  breach  in  the  jedars.  The  peasants  at 
this  season  lie  in  wait  outside  these  stone  enclo¬ 
sures  after  dark  in  order  to  shoot  them. 

A  jedar  naturally  came  to  be  used  as  a  figure  of 
general  defence  and  protection.  Hence  Ezra,  in  his 
humble  prayer  of  confession,  recounting  the  mercies 
of  God,  says :  He  “  hath  extended  mercy  to  us,  .  .  . 
to  give  us  a  jedar  in  Judah.”  1 

To  “  make  up  or  repair  the  jedar ”  that  familiar 
operation  to  be  witnessed  each  winter  in  Palestine, 
when  the  pieces  of  stone  which  have  fallen  down 
are  piled  up  again,  came  in  the  same  way  to  mean 
metaphorically  the  setting  right  of  that  which  was 
wrong  amongst  the  people  of  God,  and  so  restoring 
the  Divine  protection.2  When  the  foundation  has 
given  way,  and  a  wall  of  this  kind  once  begins  to 
crumble  and  topple  down,  nothing  could  better 
image  a  condition  of  helpless  weakness.  In  a 
passage,  which  requires  a  different  rendering  from 
that  given  in  our  version,  David  so  employs  it. 
He  has  just  been  rejoicing  in  the  strength  of  God, 
his  Eock,  abiding  in  whom  he  knows  that  he  will 
remain  unmoved.  At  the  same  time  he  confesses 
his  own  utter  weakness  and  helplessness  under 

1  Ezra  ix.  9.  2  Ezekiel  xiii.  5,  xxii.  30. 


56 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


the  onslaught  of  his  fierce  foes,  with  whom  he 
thus  remonstrates : 

<c  How  long  will  ye  rush  upon  a  man, 

Will  ye  break  him  down,  all  of  you, 

As  a  bowing  wall,  or  a  tottering  jedar  ?  55  1 

At  noon,  in  Syria,  the  heat  during  summer  is  very 
great,  and  though  it  is  tempered  by  the  rare  dry¬ 
ness  of  a  climate  naturally  most  healthy,  all  who 
can  possibly  do  so  desist  at  that  hour  from  work, 
and  seek  a  place  of  shelter  and  rest.  Even  labouring 
people  endeavour  at  this  time  to  get  away  from  the 
sun,  and  to  spend  an  hour  in  sleep,  while  in  the 
towns  and  villages  the  busy  hum  of  life  almost 
entirely  ceases.  Jeremiah,  who  draws  such  dark 
pictures  of  lamentation  and  woe,  on  several  occasions 
heightens  the  terrors  of  threatened  judgments  by 
describing  them  as  coming  at  noon,  an  hour  when 
both  besieger  and  besieged  would,  under  all  ordinary 
circumstances,  alike  take  rest.  Speaking  of  the 
Chaldean  descent  on  Jerusalem,  he  says — 

a  Prepare  ye  war  against  her. 

Arise,  and  let  us  go  up  at  noon !  ” 2 

And  again  he  declares  of  guilty  Zion — 

“  I  bring  upon  them,  against  the  mother  of  the  strong 
young  man, 


1  Psalm  lxii.  3. 


2  Jeremiah  vi.  4. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


57 


A  spoiler  at  noon-day  ! 

I  cause  to  fall  upon  her  suddenly  anguish  and  terrors.” 1 

The  shepherd  in  the  arid  and  glaring  deserts  is 
especially  exposed  to  the  heat,  and  at  twelve  o’clock 
on  a  snmmer-day,  when  the  rays  of  the  sun  strike 
almost  perpendicularly  down,  is  sorely  tried  to  find 
shelter  for  his  flock.  Yet  the  good  shepherd,  I 
have  observed,  constantly  manages  to  do  so.  There 
are  in  most  of  the  wilderness  pastures  of  the 
Holy  Land  high  cliffs  or  ledges  of  rock,  which 
almost  overhang  their  base,  and  are  arranged  at 
such  an  angle  to  the  zenith  that  even  when  the  sun 
is  at  its  height  they  still  afford  a  thin  but  precious 
strip  of  shade.  Here  the  shepherd  resorts  with  his 
sheep,  and  you  may  often  see  the  flock  extending  in 
a  long  line  so  as  to  avail  themselves  of  the  narrow 
shelter.  Even  when  this  is  not  sufficient  in  length 
to  afford  standing  room  for  all,  the  sheep  may  be 
seen  stretching  beyond,  and  taking  refuge,  as  it  were, 
one  behind  another.  Indeed  this  finding  a  sheltered 
resting-place  for  his  charge  at  the  midday  hour 
forms  a  part  of  the  daily  routine  of  the  shepherd’s 
life. 

There  is  a  beautiful  allusion  to  this,  and  one 
which  has,  I  think,  been  hitherto  overlooked,  in  the 
pastoral  imagery  of  the  Song  of  Songs.  The  bride, 
seeking  the  king,  cries — 

1  Jeremiah  xv.  8.  See  also  xx.  16. 


53 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


“  Tell  me,  thou  whom  my  soul  loveth, 

Where  thou  shepherdest  [thy  flock], 

Where  thou  restest  [them]  at  noon  1 

The  soul  has  its  seasons  of  labour  and  rest,  but  in 
both,  if  it  is  to  be  at  peace,  it  must  be  with  Christ. 
In  the  burning  noontide  of  life,  when  scorched  by 
temptation  and  sin,  or  amidst  the  fiery  beat  of 
persecution,  we  may  be  sure  of  finding  safety  and 
refreshment  in  Jesus,  if  we  flee  unto  Him  to  bide 
us.  Our  Good  Shepherd  is  in  Himself  such  a  place 
of  refuge,  “  the  .shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary 
land,”  that  is,  “  a  land  of  exhausting  heat.”  2 


Aqueducts  are,  and  always  must  have  been,  very 
common  and  familiar  objects  in  the  Holy  Land. 
They  still  are,  too,  and  must  ever  have  been,  of 
vital  importance  in  a  country  where  good  springs 
are  in  many  parts  comparatively  few.  Two  things, 
therefore,  are  highly  improbable.  First,  that  the 
inspired  writers,  who  drew  their  simple  hut  striking 
figures  especially  from  horticultural  subjects,  should 
have  failed  in  a  single  instance  to  allude  to  these 
precious  water  channels.  Secondly,  that  the  exceed¬ 
ingly  primitive,  rich,  and  precise  Hebrew  tongue 
should  lack  a  special  technical  term  by  which  to 
describe  them.  For  my  own  part,  since  my  resi¬ 
dence  in  Palestine  led  me  to  realise  the  prominent 

1  Song  of  Solomon  i.  7.  2  Isaiah  xxxii.  2. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


59 


place  that  aqueducts  have  always  occupied  in  that 
land,  I  have  felt  that  they  must  have  been  spoken 
of  by  name  in  the  Bible. 

This  mention  appeared  to  me  plain  when  after¬ 
wards  seeking  a  meaning  for  the  word  a^heeJc,1 
which  occurs  eighteen  times  in  the  Old  Testament, 
besides  forming  the  names  of  towns  such  as  Aphaik, 
near  Bethhoron,  and  Aphaikah,  near  Hebron.2 3  That 
our  translators  could  make  hut  little  of  this  term  is 
evident.  They  have  rendered  it  by  no  less  than 
seven  different  words,  and  the  one  they  have 
adopted  most  frequently,  “river,”  cannot  possibly 
be  its  true  meaning !  The  word  is  derived  from 
aphaJe?  which,  in  all  the  places  where  it  occurs  in 
the  Old  Testament,  bears  the  sense  of  “  restraining  ” 
or  “  forcing.”  4  How  the  leading  idea  of  an  aqueduct 
is  that  which  forces  or  constrains  a  stream  of  water 
to  flow  in  a  given  direction.  The  strength  of  one  of 
the  high  pressure  aqueducts,  that  formerly  brought 
the  water  of  a  distant  spring  to  the  Holy  City,  in  a 
direct  line  up  and  down  the  slopes  of  the  mountains, 
was  very  great.  Each  pipe  consisted  of  a  large 

1  P'SK 

2  i  Samuel  iv.  I  ;  Joshua  xv.  53.  Spelt  in  our  version  Aphek 
and  Aphekah. 

3  pBK 

4  “Joseph  could  not  restrain  himself ”  (Genesis  xlv.  1) ;  “  I  forced 
myself  ”  (1  Samuel  xiii.  12) ;  “  Haman  restrained  himself  ”  (Esther  v. 
10),  &c. 


6o 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


block  of  stone  bored  through  the  centre.  Several 
of  these  were  recently  discovered  in  position.  The 
aqueducts  were  generally  made  of  earthenware  pipes, 
laid  in  thick  beds  of  a  cement  largely  formed  of 
hhomrah,  or  crushed  pottery,  which  in  the  course 
of  time  became  as  hard  as  stone.  Sometimes  they 
were  cut  as  grooves  in  the  limestone  of  the  hill¬ 
sides.  At  others,  but  more  rarely,  they  were  narrow 
open  ditches,  by  which  the  waters  of  a  river  were 
carried  to  another  part  of  the  plain.  In  one  or 
two  instances  they  consisted  of  a  deep  underground 
channel,  connecting  a  number  of  little  pools,  or  pits, 
such  as  those  now  in  ruins  at  Ain  Fusail,  and  the 
Yale  of  Siddim  in  the  Jordan  valley.  In  each  case 
the  chief  idea  of  the  aqueduct  was  the  constraint 
put  upon  the  water  of  spring,  stream,  or  pool,  by 
which  it  was  forced  to  run  in  a  prepared  channel. 
The  word  apheek,  besides  its  strict  technical  mean¬ 
ing,  appears  to  have  had  other  senses.  It  would 
seem  to  have  signified  the  natural  subterranean 
channels  which  supply  springs,  and  also  to  have 
been  the  special  name  for  the  narrow,  rocky,  aque¬ 
duct-like  beds  of  some  mountain  streams. 

If  we  take  a  few  of  the  passages  where  it 
occurs,  the  appropriateness  and  beauty  of  the  ren¬ 
dering  I  now  suggest  will  at  once  appear.  A 
striking  instance  of  the  use  of  this  word  is 
found  in  the  highly  poetic  description  of  the 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  6  I 

strength  of  the  hippopotamus  given  by  Jehovah 
Himself — 


“  His  bones  are  aqueducts  of  brass.” 1 

The  figure  rendered  thus  becomes  one  of  magni¬ 
ficent  boldness,  whereas  the  translation  in  our 
version,  “strong  pieces  of  brass,”  is  without  any 
warrant,  and  possesses  no  special  significance.  The 
word  occurs  again  in  describing  the  rugged  ridges  of 
thick  tubular  skin,  seventeen  in  number,  which,  like 
shields,  protect  the  invulnerable  crocodile.2 

This  explanation  adds  new  meaning  and  beauty 
to  the  opening  words  of  the  42d  Psalm.  These  are 
literally — 

“  As  the  hind  panteth  over  the  aqueducts, 

So  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  0  God.”  3 

In  our  Bible  it  reads  “  panteth  after  the  water 
brooks.”  But  the  picture  of  the  Psalmist  is  far 

1  Job  xl.  18.  2  Job  xli.  15. 

3  Psalm  xlii.  1.  The  Hebrew  of  the  first  line  of  this  verse  reads  : 

Mayyal  ta’aroag  ’ al  apheekaiy-mayim. 

’ Al  is  in  almost  every  instance  to  be  rendered  “upon,”  “over,”  or 
“  above,”  and  this  makes  it  impossible  to  translate  apheeTcaiy-mayim , 
“water  brooks,”  for  a  deer  would  not  “pant,”  or  “bray,”  for  water 
if  it  were  standing  over  an  open  stream.  The  whole  force  of  the 
simile  is  lost  in  our  version,  for  the  thought  in  the  mind  of  David  is 
the  sense  of  the  inaccessibility  of  those  spiritual  privileges  which 
he  had  once  enjoyed  in  attending  the  services  of  the  sanctuary. 
The  Psalm  bears  marks  of  having  been  written  at  the  season  when 
he  was  compelled  to  fly  from  Jerusalem  by  Absalom’s  rebellion. 


6  2 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


stronger  than  this.  He  is  lamenting  his  banish¬ 
ment  from  Zion  and  all  its  spiritual  privileges  in 
the  manifested  presence  of  Jehovah.  He  thirsts 
after  God,  and  longs  to  taste  again  the  joy  of 
His  house,  like  the  parched  and  weary  hind  who 
comes  to  a  covered  channel,  conveying  the  living 
waters  of  some  far-off  spring  across  the  intervening 
desert.  She  scents  the  precious  current  in  its  bed  of 
adamantine  cement,  or  hears  its  rippling  flow  close 
beneath  her  feet,  or  perchance  sees  it  deep  down 
through  one  of  the  narrow  air-holes,  and,  as  she 
agonises  for  the  inaccessible  draught,  she  “panteth 
over  the  aqueducts !  ”  Yet  again  the  Psalmist 
cries — 

“  Turn  our  captivity,  0  Jehovah, 

As  aqueducts  in  the  Negeb.”  1 

This  Negeb,  or  South  Country,  the  region  stretch¬ 
ing  below  Hebron,  being  comparatively  dry  and 
waterless,  was  doubtless  irrigated  by  a  system  of 
small  artificial  channels.  The  words  of  the  Psalmist 
imply  that  it  is  as  easy  for  God  to  turn  Israel  back 
from  Babylonian  bondage  to  their  own  land,  as  for 
the  horticulturist  to  direct  the  waters  of  the  spring 
to  any  part  of  the  land  he  chooses  along  the  channels 
of  the  aqueducts.  These  aqueducts  are  spoken  of 
in  connection  with  the  irrigation  of  the  Nile  valley,2 
and  the  fertility  of  the  mountain  districts  of  Pales- 

1  Psalm  cxxvi.  4.  2  Ezekiel  xxxii.  6. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  63 

tine,  more  especially  Judah.1  Speaking  of  millennial 
times,  the  prophet  declares — 

“  Tlie  mountains  shall  drop  down  new  wine, 

And  the  hills  shall  flow  with  milk, 

And  all  the  aqueducts  of  Judah  shall  flow  with  waters.”2 

If  this  be,  as  I  believe,  the  true  meaning  of 
apheek,  then  those  places  in  Palestine  which  answer 
to  the  sites  of  Aphaik  and  Apliaikah,  and  those,  of 
which  there  are  several,  bearing  the  modern  name 
of  Feelt,  will  probably  appear  by  the  memoirs  of  the 
Palestine  Survey,  or  from  the  Survey  itself,  to  stand 
in  connection  with  some  ancient  aqueducts,  or  rocky 
aqueduct-like  ravines. 


When  a  friend  of  mine,  who  is  an  able  and 
observant  expositor  of  Scripture,  was  travelling 
in  Egypt,  during  a  visit  to  Alexandria,  he  noticed 
quite  casually  the  following  incident,  which  I  will 
give  in  his  own  words : — “  An  aged  beggar,  whose 
appearance  and  garb  attracted  attention,  was  slowly 
pacing  the  street.  A  young  man,  bent  on  a  practical 
joke,  stepped  up  cautiously  behind  him,  and  either 
pulled  or  pushed  him.  The  moment  he  had  done 
so,  with  great  adroitness  he  stepped  back,  stooped 
down  in  a  squatting  posture  after  the  fashion  of  the 

1  Ezekiel  xxxi.  12.  The  meaning  of  apheelc  in  Ezekiel  vi.  3  ; 
xxxiv.  13  ;  xxxv.  8  ;  xxxvi.  4,  6,  I  take  to  be  “ravine,”  or  narrow, 
rocky,  aqueduct-like  bed  of  mountain  torrents.  It  is  possible  that 
the  word  in  Joel  iii.  18  should  be  rendered  in  the  same  way. 

2  Joel  iii.  18. 


6  4 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Easterns,  and,  assuming  an  air  of  innocence  and 
unconcern,  commenced  scribbling  with  bis  finger  on 
the  ground.  His  manner  was,  in  fact,  that  of  a 
wholly  abstracted  person,  who  paid  no  attention  to 
anything  going  on  around.  He  behaved  as  though 
he  saw  not  the  surprise,  nor  heard  the  exclamation 
of  the  old  man.” 

Perhaps  few  of  the  simple  actions  of  our  Lord 
have  given  rise  to  more  conjecture  than  that  which 
occurred  in  the  case  of  the  accusation  by  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  .of  the  woman  taken  in  the  act  of 
adultery.1  Here,  however,  the  precisely  similar  con¬ 
duct  of  an  Eastern  gives  the  right  explanation,  while 
thoroughly  justifying  the  gloss  which  our  translators 
have  put  on  the  passage  by  the  words  they  have 
added  in  italics.  Our  Saviour,  indignant  at  the 
hardened  hypocrisy  of  the  accusers,  desired  to  give 
them  an  impressive  rebuke  by  treating  them  with 
silent  contempt,  and,  by  studied  and  well-understood 
manner,  affecting  to  be  entirely  indifferent  to  their 
insincere  charge.  Jesus,  we  read,  “  stooped  down, 
and  with  his  finger  wrote  on  the  ground,  \as  though 
he  heard  them  not].” 

1  John  viii.  6.  I  am  aware  that  the  best  critics  reject  the  whole 
narrative  in  which  these  words  appear.  But  as  long  as  it  holds  its 
place  in  our  version,  and  there  is  any  probability  that  the  circum¬ 
stance  actually  occurred,  the  above  explanation  ought  to  be  generally 
known.  While  this  work  is  going  through  the  press,  the  Revised 
Version  of  the  New  Testament  has  appeared,  in  which  the  passage 
is  retained,  but  placed  within  brackets,  and  the  words  in  italics  are 
left  out. 


(  65  ) 


CHAPTER  III. 

MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

(Continued.) 

“Every  scribe  who  has  been  made  a  disciple  in  respect  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  a  householder,  who 
bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasury  things  new  and  old.” — Matthew 
xiii.  52. 

The  power  of  lungs  possessed  by  both  men  and 
women  in  the  East  is  very  remarkable.  In  giving 
an  account  of  sifting,  I  shall  have  occasion  to  de¬ 
scribe  the  way  in  which  the  sifter  aids  the  simple 
but  searching  process  by  blowing  with  much  strength 
across  the  surface  of  the  sieve  instead  of  using  a 
fan.  It  is  not,  however,  the  only  trying  use  to 
which  the  people  of  Palestine,  who  seem  to  utterly 
despise  all  labour-saving  apparatus,  are  in  the  habit 
of  putting  their  singularly  strong  chests.  On  all 
ordinary  occasions,  when  making  or  reviving  a  fire, 
they  employ  their  mouths,  where  we  should  employ 
a  pair  of  bellows.  Placing  their  lips  close  to  the 
wood  or  charcoal,  with  great  and  continuously  sus- 

E 


66 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


tained  force  they  blow  upon  the  embers  until  they 
give  out  a  warm  and  steady  blaze.  I  have  repeatedly 
watched  my  servants  kindling  a  flame  in  this  labo¬ 
rious  manner.  The  practice  is  universal,  and  indeed 
they  call  this  blowing  “  making  the  fire.”  There 
are,  I  believe,  pointed  references  to  it  in  the  Bible. 
Speaking  of  the  judgments  to  come  upon  Jerusalem, 
God  says,  “  I  will  blow  against  thee  the  fire  of  my 
wrath,  ....  Thou  shalt  be  for  fuel  to  the  fire.”1 
Of  the  hypocrite’s  end  it  is  said  by  Zophar  the 
Eaamathite — ' 

“  A  fire  not  blown  shall  consume  him,5’ 2 

that  is,  “a  supernatural  fire;”  for  this  was  probably 
a  cruel  allusion  to  “  the  fire  of  God,”  the  lightning 
that  fell  from  heaven,  and  destroyed  Job’s  flocks 
and  shepherds.3 


One  of  the  great  inconveniences  of  life  in  the 
tents  of  the  Bedaween  Arabs,  and  in  the  houses  of  the 
fellahlieen,  which  are  built  without  chimneys,  is  the 
kindling  of  wood  fires  in  the  midst  of  an  apartment, 
from  whence  the  smoke,  having  no  regular  place 
of  egress,  spreads  into  every  corner.  In  the  houses 
of  the  rich  braziers  of  charcoal  are  employed,  and  as 
their  contents  are  carefully  burnt  in  the  open  air  to 
a  white  heat  before  they  are  brought  into  the  midst 

1  Ezekiel  xxi.  31,  32.  2  Job  xx.  26.  3  Job  i.  16. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


67 


of  a  room,  they  give  out  no  fumes  of  any  kind,  while 
diffusing  a  genial  warmth.  It  was  on  such  a  “  fire 
of  coals,”  that  is,  small  pieces  of  charcoal — the  only 
coal  known  in  Bible  lands — that  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  baked  a  cake  for  Elijah,  and  that  Christ,  when 
appearing  to  His  disciples  at  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  pre¬ 
pared  fish  and  bread.*  It  was  around  such  a  brazier 
of  charcoal  that  Peter  sat  with  the  servants  and  the 
officers  in  the  High  Priest’s  palace  when  he  denied 
the  Lord.2  But  in  the  homes  of  the  people  at 
large,  and  even  in  the  tents  of  Arab  sheikhs  and 
the  houses  of  some  head-men  in  the  poorer  villages, 
wood  fires  are,  for  several  purposes,  the  only  ones 
employed. 

I  was  entertained  for  three  days  in  the  spring 
of  1872  by  the  Arab  sheikh  who  presides  in  the 
village  of  Tudmoor ,  the  ancient  Tadmor  in  the  wil¬ 
derness  built  by  Solomon,3  which  is  now  contained, 
with  much  ground  besides  to  spare,  within  the  still¬ 
standing  curtain  walls  of  the  vast  temple  of  the  sun. 
His  home  presented  one  of  those  wonderful  contrasts 
of  ancient  grandeur  and  still  more  ancient  simplicity 
which  lend  the  height  of  picturesqueness  to  modern 
Syria.  The  guest  chamber  on  this  occasion  was 

1  1  Kings  xix.  5,  6  ;  John  xxi.  9.  2  John  xviii.  18. 

3  2  Chronicles  viii.  4.  This  remote  spot,  the  Ultima  Thule  of 
Syrian  travel,  is  better  known  by  its  later  Greek  name  of  Pal¬ 
myra,  which,  like  its  Hebrew  name,  Tadmor,  is  indicative  of  an 
oasis  of  palm-trees,  some  of  which  remain  to  the  present  day. 


68 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


unfortunately  full,  and  I  and  my  companion  had  to 
share  it  with  some  eight  native  friends  who  were 
also  visiting  the  sheikh  at  this  time.  The  room  was 
far  from  large,  and,  as  it  had  to  serve  as  usual  for 
our  bedroom  by  night  as  well  as  our  dining  and 
sitting-room  by  day,  we  suffered  considerable  incon¬ 
venience.  But  next  to  the  plague  of  vermin,  intro¬ 
duced  by  the  Arab  guests,  nothing  tried  me  more 
than  the  smoke,  which  rose  from  the  large  wood 
fire,  kindled  from  time  to  time  on  the  stone  floor  in 
the  midst  of  the  room.  Before  daybreak  the  servant 
came  in,  and  stepping  over  the  bodies  of  the  sleep¬ 
ing  guests  as  we  lay  on  our  simple  mattresses  on 
the  floor,  lighted  a  pile  of  wood,  much  of  which  was 
in  a  green  condition,  and  proceeded  to  prepare  our 
morning  cups  of  coffee.  However  difficult  it  had 
been  to  sleep  amid  the  attacks  of  countless  small 
tormentors  during  the  night,  this  was  even  worse, 
and  I  now  found  myself  forced  to  get  up.  The 
wreaths  of  smoke  got  into  my  throat  and  made  me 
cough,  while  also  causing  the  most  painful  irritation 
to  my  eyes  and  nostrils.  Our  host  proceeded  to 
invite  us  as  usual  to  gather  round  the  fire  and  drink 
coffee  with  him.  This  was  the  most  trying  part  of 
the  day.  At  such  time  there  was  no  escaping  from 
the  fumes,  and  my  eyes  were  constantly  filled  with 
water,  and  became  painfully  inflamed.  Had  not  the 
stringent  rules  of  Eastern  etiquette,  rendering  it 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


6  9 


imperatively  necessary  that  I  should  drink  my  host’s 
coffee,  and  the  cold  of  the  grey  dawn  without  equally 
constrained  me,  I  should  have  fled  from  the  house 
to  escape  the  torturing  smoke. 

In  some  large  dwellings  chimney-places  exist  of 
a  rude  kind,  with  a  hearth  enclosed  by  slabs  of 
stone,  sometimes  with  an  andiron.  But  the  houses 
generally  are  built  without  chimneys,  and  the  fire 
is  lighted  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  and  the  smoke 
allowed  to  escape  where  it  can.  Doubtless  it  was 
this  primitive  and  universal  practice  which  gave 
rise  to  the  expressive  proverb — 

“  As  smoke  to  the  eyes, 

So  is  the  sluggard  to  them  that  send  him.”1 

The  irritation  and  annoyance  caused  by  an  idle  and 
worthless  servant  is  thus  forcefully  and  graphically 
described  under  a  most  familiar  figure.  Fortunately 
these  fires,  save  in  the  coldest  weather,  are  not  con¬ 
tinually  burning,  but  are  only  lighted  at  such  time 
as  guests  drop  in  and  coffee  has  to  be  prepared.  In 
the  severest  parts  of  winter,  however,  when  the 
family  can  afford  the  fuel,  they  are  kept  up  all  day. 
The  constant  smoke  arising  from  green  wood  must 
in  such  cases  prove  a  most  painful  nuisance  to  those 
who  have  to  stay  in  the  house.  It  would  seem 
that  this  is  the  allusion  of  the  Most  High  when,  of 


1  Proverbs  x.  2 6. 


7  o 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


His  rebellious,  idolatrous,  self-righteous  people,  He 
declares — 

“  These  are  a  smoke  in  my  nose, 

A  fire  that  burneth  all  the  day.” 1 


David,  when  exiled  in  the  barren  wilderness  of 
Judea,  amid  terrible  sufferings  and  privation,  and 
almost  in  despair  at  the  long  loss  of  spiritual  privi¬ 
leges,  cries — 

“  My  tears  have  been  my  food  day  and  night.” 2 

To  an  English  'ear  such  a  figure  of  speech  sounds 
strained  and  unnatural.  Tears,  it  would  seem  to  us, 
might  indeed  have  been  called  by  David  his  drink, 
but  that  they  should  be  said  to  be  his  “  food,”  or 
meat,  appears  at  first  sight  very  inappropriate. 

Yet  in  the  East  nothing  could  be  more  proper 
than  this  bold  but  perfectly  consistent  representa¬ 
tion.  Solid  meat  is,  and  always  must  have  been, 
comparatively  rare  in  Syria.  Beef  is  seldom  or 
never  eaten,  mutton  in  summer  is  very  scarce,  and 
lean  goat’s-flesh  is  in  many  parts  all  that  can  be 

1  Isaiah  lxv.  5, 

2  Psalm  xlii.  3.  The  word  “  food  ”  here,  ED*?  Ichliem,  in  most 

V  V  5 

instances  translated  “  bread  ”  in  our  version,  is  edible  provision  of 
any  kind.  It  is  used  of  manna  (Exodus  xvi.  4,  8,  12),  of  mallows 
(Job  xxx.  4),  of  fruit  (Jeremiah  xi.  19),  of  the  whole  of  the  rich 
provision  at  Joseph’s  feast  (Genesis  xliii.  25,  31),  and  of  the  flesh  of 
animal' sacrifices  (Numbers  xxviii.  2).  It  frequently  occurs  in  the 
technical  sense  of  “  bread  ”  made  of  wheat,  barley,  millet,  or  some 
other  grain. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  7  I 

obtained  for  several  months  in  the  year.  The  im¬ 
possibility,  owing  to  the  warmth  of  the  weather,  of 
hanging  the  meat,  even  when  it  can  be  procured, 
renders  it  tough,  and  makes  it  necessary  for  culinary 
purposes  to  broil  or  stew  it  to  excess.  The  invari¬ 
able  method  of  preparing  animal  food  throughout 
the  East  is  that  indicated  in  the  injunction  to  Peter 
in  the  heavenly  vision,  namely,  “  kill  and  eat.” 1 
When  thus  cooked  immediately  after  it  is  slaugh¬ 
tered,  and  while  the  carcass  is  still  warm,  the  meat 
is  far  more  tender  and  good  than  when  it  has  been 
hung  for  a  day,  but  not  quite  so  tender  or  well 
flavoured  as  when  eaten  in  that  state  of  incipient 
corruption  in  which  we  partake  of  it  in  the  West. 
All  the  Bedaween  Arab  sheikhs,  who  very  rarely 
take  meat  at  any  other  time,  on  the  arrival  of  a  guest 
whom  they  desire  greatly  to  honour,  like  Abraham 
in  entertaining  his  angel  visitants,  kill  a  sheep,  lamb, 
or  kid  of  the  goats,  for  the  wealthiest  now  would 
seldom  venture  on  so  valuable  an  offering  as  the  fat 
young  calf  prepared  by  Israel’s  hospitable  and  gene¬ 
rous  ancestor.  The  entire  animal  is  cooking  hard 
by  in  the  great  iron  pot  before  you  have  been  an 
hour  in  your  host’s  tent.  But  in  this  case,  when 
the  joints  appear  whole,  they  are  ready  to  fall  to 
pieces  from  excessive  stewing,  so  that  each  guest 
easily  carves  for  himself  with  his  own  fingers. 


1  Acts  x.  13. 


72 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Thus  it  has  naturally  come  about  that  food  in 
Palestine  consists  very  largely  of  broths  and  pot¬ 
tages,  answering  somewhat  to  our  plain  soups,  in 
which  the  meat  is  served  up  in  shreds.  The  poor 
particularly  relish  these  soups,  and  in  making  them 
they  use  not  only  garden  vegetables,  but  a  great 
variety  of  wild  plants.  This  is  the  chief  dish  at 
their  principal  or  evening  meal.  The  main  nourish¬ 
ment  is  in  most  cases  in  the  broth  itself,  which 
always  forms  the  most  substantial  and  palatable 
part  of  prepared  food  at  a  truly  Oriental  board. 
Jacob’s  mess  of  pottage,  probably,  from  its  being 
called  “  that  red,”  the  delicious  Eastern  preparation 
of  red  lentil  soup,  represented  to  the  hungry  and 
reckless  Esau  as  substantial  a  dish  as  our  roast 
beef!1  The  wretched  weakness  and  folly  of  Esau 
in  being  tempted  by  such  a  repast  as  we  should 
understand  by  “  a  mess  of  pottage,”  has  appeared  no 
doubt  to  many  utterly  unaccountable.  But  what 
has  been  said  above  will  show  that  this  reckless, 
worldly-minded,  famishing  man  had  a  stronger  in¬ 
ducement  to  indulge  his  appetite  than  is  generally 
supposed. 

The  liquid  character  of  prepared  food  is  particu¬ 
larly  noticeable  amongst  the  nomad  population  of 
Palestine.  The  usual  fare  of  the  Bedaween  Arabs, 
called  ayesh ,  is  flour  made  into  a  paste,  and  boiled 

1  Genesis  xxv.  29-34.  In  verse  34  it  is  called  “  lentile  pottage.” 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


73 


with  sour  camers-milk.  The  latter  is  sometimes 
exchanged  for  leben,  or  goat’s  sour  butter-milk,  in 
which  float  on  special  occasions  the  meagre  pieces 
of  overdone  meat.  It  is  exceedingly  interesting 
to  observe  that  the  forty-second  Psalm  bears  every 
mark  of  being  written  by  David  during  a  time  of 
exile,  when  he  was  compelled  to  hide  in  the  wilder¬ 
ness  of  Judea,  and  live  like  the  desert  tribes.  Hence 
the  royal  Psalmist  could  not,  under  the  circumstances, 
have  used  a  more  striking  and  appropriate  metaphor. 

Throughout  Egypt  and  Syria  a  special  kind  of 
jewellery  is  made,  fashioned  from  gold  or  silver 
mixed  with  the  least  possible  alloy.  In  Egypt 
women  wear  plain  bracelets  of  two  thick  solid 
twists  of  such  gold,  with  scarcely  any  workmanship, 
but  worth  from  twenty  to  thirty  pounds,  their  value 
consisting  alone  of  the  weight  of  precious  metal 
which  they  contain.  Though  these  ornaments  are 
solid,  and  of  considerable  thickness,  they  require  no 
clasp.  So  malleable  is  the  gold,  owing  to  its  freedom 
from  admixture  with  any  other  metal,  that  the 
ends  of  these  stout  coils  easily  admit  of  being 
unbent  by  a  lady’s  fingers  so  as  to  be  placed  round 
the  wrist,  and  when  in  that  position  can  with  the 
simple  pressure  of  the  hand  be  restored  to  their 
circular  form.  Gold  and  silver  ornaments  of  such 


74 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


kind  do  not,  it  is  true,  exhibit  any  highly- wrought 
work,  being  in  too  soft  a  state  to  admit  of  this. 
But,  since  in  Bible  lands  massive  worth  seems 
always  in  trinkets  to  have  been  more  highly  prized 
than  fineness  of  graving,  this  is  of  little  consequence. 
There  is  a  regular  standard  or  assay  of  gold  and 
silver  jewellery  of  this  sort,  and  in  both  cases  these 
metals  are  mixed  with  so  little  alloy  that  they  are 
always  said  to  be  “pure.”  Thus,  when  buying  any 
article  in  the  metal-worker’s  bazaar  at  Cairo,  the 
modern  capital  of  Egypt,  the  purchaser  before  doing 
so  carries  it  to  a  certain  officer,  who  is  stationed  on 
the  spot,  and  who  applies  tests,  and,  if  it  be  genuine, 
gives  a  written  certificate  stating  it  to  be  of  “  pure 
gold,”  or  “pure  silver,”  as  the  case  may  be.  Orna¬ 
ments  of  this  kind  are  much  prized,  and  are  only 
possessed  by  the  wealthy ;  whereas  jewellery  of  the 
ordinary  description,  especially  silver  jewellery,  is 
worn  in  great  abundance  by  all  classes. 

Repeated  mention  is  made  in  Scripture  of  this 
“pure  gold.”  We  are  told  that  the  furniture  of  the 
Tabernacle,  and  afterwards  of  the  Temple,  together 
with  the  porch  of  the  latter,  was  overlaid  with  it.1 
Solomon’s  royal  throne  was  also  overlaid  wTith  the 
same,  and  whereas  the  ordinary  drinking  vessels  of 
this  magnificent  monarch  are  said  to  have  been  of 

1  Exodus  xxv.  ii,  17,  29,  31,  38  ;  1  Kings  vii.  49,  50  ;  2  Chronicles 
iii.  4. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


75 


“gold,”  those  of  his  most  splendid  palace,  “  the 
house  of  the  forest  of  Lebanon,”  so  called  from  the 
vast  quantity  of  cedar  employed  in  its  construction, 
are  specially  said  to  have  been  of  “  pure  gold.” 1 
This  form  of  the  precious  metal  is  used  in  several 
passages  as  a  figure  of  great  excellence  and  value. 
Thus  Job  in  his  final  speech  declares  of  Divine 
wisdom — 

“  The  price  of  wisdom  is  above  pearls  ; 

•  •  •  • 

Nor  shall  it  be  weighed  with  pure  gold.”2 

Speaking  of  the  glories  of  God’s  anointed,  the 
Psalmist  says — 

“  Thou  hast  set  a  crown  of  pure  gold  on  his  head.”  3 
In  that  glowing  figurative  picture  of  the  Holy  City, 
Hew  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven — the  last  and  brightest  of  prophetic  visions 
— we  read  of  that  abode  of  the  blest,  “  the  city  was 
pure  gold,”  and  even  its  broad  street  shone  with 
a  like  splendour.4 


It  has  been  observed  that  the  various  species  of 
ants  which  are  found  in  Europe  lie  dormant  during 
winter.  They  therefore  neither  require  nor  lay  up 
food  for  that  season,  notwithstanding  the  explicit 
statements  of  Scripture  to  the  contrary,  some  still 

1  2  Chronicles  ix.  17,  20.  2  Job  xxviii.  18,  19. 

3  Psalm  xxi.  3.  4  Revelation  xxi.  18,  2 1. 


76 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


say  it  is  tlie  same  in  the  East.  On  one  occasion, 
while  encamped,  about  the  middle  of  March,  near 
Tiberias,  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Gali¬ 
lee,  I  witnessed  a  sight  that  has  left  no  doubt  in 
my  own  mind  on  this  subject.  I  was  walking  in 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  our  tents,  when  I 
noticed  a  line  of  those  large  black  ants,  some  three- 
eighths  of  an  inch  in  length,  with  which  I  had 
become  familiar  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
These  insects  were  marching  towards  their  nest, 
which  was  hidden  at  a  distance  amongst  the  rich 
wild  growth.  Another  party  were  passing  them 
empty  handed  on  their  return.  Those  who  were 
making  for  their  nest  were  each  laden  with  a  grain 
of  barley,  longer  and  larger  than  themselves.  They 
managed  to  drag  the  gram  with  singular  rapidity, 
and  had  every  appearance  of  having  been  thus 
engaged  for  a  length  of  time.  The  work  was  pro¬ 
ceeding  in  the  most  orderly  and  methodical  manner, 
every  one  of  the  immense  host  being  loaded  in 
a  similar  way.  It  looked  like  a  moving  multitude 
of  barley  corns. 

Curious  to  find  whence  they  drew  their  supplies, 
I  traced  the  line  of  ants  back  till  I  found  it  reaching 
to  a  spot  where  the  corn  that  was  to  form  the 
provender  for  our  horses  had  been  carelessly  tossed 
about,  and  lay  scattered  on  the  ground.  Possibly 
the  mooharies ,  or  mule- drivers,  had  spilled  it  from 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  77 

their  sacks,  or  perhaps  the  tethered  animals,  in 
their  eagerness  to  devour,  had  jerked  it  out  of  the 
nose-hags  with  which  they  are  fed.  What  was 
going  on  under  my  eyes  was  not  the  mere  sup¬ 
ply  of  the  daily  needs  of  the  insect  community, 
but  the  harvesting  of  food  that  was  to  be  laid 
up  in  store  against  the  winter.  ISTo  one  who  had 
witnessed  it  could  doubt  this  any  more  than  if  he 
had  seen  fieldmice  in  our  country  laying  up  a  store 
of  beechnuts  at  a  time  when  their  food  is  most 
abundant.  An  explanation  of  the  matter  may  be 
found  in  the  warmth  of  regions  like  Tiberias  and 
the  Jordan  valley  generally.  It  is  highly  pro¬ 
bable  that  the  ants  there  do  not  experience  the 
state  of  torpor  in  which  they  lie  throughout  the 
long  and  severe  season  of  cold  in  our  northern 
latitude,  and  consequently  have  need  of  food  during 
the  winter  months. 

Hence  the  accuracy  and  beauty  of  that  striking 
figure  of  thrift  and  industry  given  by  the  inspired 
naturalist — 

“  Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard  ! 

Observe  her  ways,  and  be  wise  ; 

Which  having  no  governor, 

Overseer,  or  ruler, 

Provideth  her  bread  in  the  summer, 

And  gathereth  her  food  in  the  harvest.”  1 


1  Proverbs  vi.  6-8. 


73 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Again,  in  his  enumeration  of  four  things  which  are 
“  exceeding  wise,”  giving  the  same  insect  as  one, 
he  dwells  with  admiration  upon  this  feature  of  its 
provident  character — 

11  The  ants  are  a  people  not  strong, 

Yet  they  prepare  their  food  in  the  summer.”1 

Summer,  kayitz ,2  is  the  time  of  summer  fruits,  that 
is,  the  time  when  most  fruits  ripen — from  the  middle 
of  June  to  the  middle  of  August.  We  might  expect 
to  find  that  they  “  prepare  their  food  in  the  summer  ” 
for  the  coming  winter,  the  Scripture  season  of 
hhoar&ph ,3  commencing  in  November,  when  all  the 
earth  becomes  bare  from  the  last  of  its  produce 
being  plucked  off  and  taken  away.  But  that  they 
should  “  gather  their  food  in  the  harvest,  katzeer  ” 4 
the  time  of  cutting  the  crop,  that  is,  the  main 
winter  crop  of  wheat  or  barley,  which  takes  place 
towards  the  latter  end  of  April  and  during  May, 
almost  in  the  first  hours  of  settled  fine  weather, 

1  Proverbs  xxx.  25.  2  f'P 

3  from  the  root  m  JtJiarapJi ,  “to  pluck  off.”  Plence  it 
comes  metaphorically  to  mean  “to  strip  of  honour  or  value,”  “to 
reproach,”  “to  blaspheme.” 

4  from  Jcatzar,  “to  cut  or  crop  off.”  This  order  of  the 
seasons,  so  strange  to  us,  occurs  again  in  the  pathetic  lament  in  Jere¬ 
miah  viii.  20 — 

“  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended ; 

And  we  are  not  saved.” 

It  is,  however,  perfectly  natural  and  strictly  correct  as  regards 
Palestine,  where  harvest  precedes  summer. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


79 


when  a  bountiful  supply  to  continue  for  six  months 
might  well  tempt  to  idle  and  careless  indulgence, 
forms  a  never-to-be-forgotten  example  of  moderation, 
prudence,  energy,  and  forethought — truly  germs  of 
a  character  “exceeding  wise.” 

The  flies  of  Palestine  are  at  times  terribly  trouble¬ 
some  in  the  warm  season.  There  are  in  particular 
seven  different  kinds,  which  cause  great  annoyance. 
First  of  these  may  be  enumerated  the  Dubban 
balady,  or  common  fly  of  the  country,  resembling 
our  common  house-fly,  which  appears  on  the  plains 
at  the  beginning  of  April,  and  on  the  mountains 
about  the  end  of  that  month.  They  come  in  vast 
quantities,  and  their  bite  in  hot  weather  causes  con¬ 
siderable  irritation.  Secondly,  there  is  the  Dubban 
shurmn,  or  the  “Donkey-fly,”  which  specially  attacks 
this  animal,  and  causes  it  much  distress.  Thirdly, 
there  is  the  Dubban  Jihail ,  or  common  “  horse-fly,” 
a  large,  flat,  brown  insect,  said  by  the  country  people 
to  be  the  Donkey-fly  when  it  has  attained  its  full 
size.  It  is  a  great  torment  to  horses  and  mules, 
settling  upon  them  chiefly  when  they  are  heated 
and  fatigued  in  very  large  numbers. 

A  fourth  species  is  the  Dubban  azrack ,  or  the 
“  blue-fly,”  which  also  attacks  horses  and  other 
animals,  and  has  a  very  venomous  sting.  When 
bitten  by  it  they  bleed  from  the  wound,  and  become 


8o 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


wildly  infuriated.  After  a  long  journey  their  bellies 
and  fetlocks  may  be  seen  red  with  blood.  These 
flies  are  mostly  to  be  met  with  on  the  hot  plains, 
such  as  the  country  near  Jenin ,  the  En-Gannim  of 
Scripture,  on  the  south  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon, 
called  in  Scripture  the  plain  of  Jezreel,  and  the 
plains  of  Acre  and  Sharon.  To  guard  their  valuable 
horses  from  the  fierce  attacks  of  these  insects,  the 
Arabs  use  gaudy- coloured  woollen  trappings,  con¬ 
sisting  of  an  apron  over  the  belly,  with  long  fringes 
and  four  huge  tassels  at  the  corners,  that,  swinging 
below,  afford  some  protection  to  the  legs.  On  the 
Philistine  plains,  from  time  immemorial  the  chief 
haunt  of  this  pest,  during  the  latter  part  of  summer 
and  the  season  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  “  heat,” 1 
that  is,  from  the  middle  of  August  to  the  latter  end 
of  October,  travelling,  especially  in  connection  with 
transport  of  goods,  is  only  attempted  at  night 
time. 

The  fifth  kind  is  the  Namous ,  the  well-known 
mosquito.  This  torment  of  all  hot  countries  abounds 
in  the  well-cultivated  and  well-watered  districts  of 
Palestine.  The  hissing  sound  they  emit  gives  warn¬ 
ing  of  their  approach  during  the  day,  and  the  natives 
by  long  practice  are  able  to  strike  them  the  moment 
they  settle  upon  their  hands  or  face  before  they 
have  time  to  inflict  their  painful  sting.  During  the 
night  nets  can  be  used  to  keep  them  at  a  distance, 

1  Genesis  viii.  22. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


8 1 


but  practically  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to  escape 
them  altogether,  even  in  this  way.  They  are  very 
numerous  in  the  lowland  districts,  and  reach  even 
the  highest  parts  of  the  central  mountains  of  Israel 
and  Judah. 

A  sixth  and  still  more  formidable  species  are 
called  Heshes.  These  are  sand-flies,  and  are  par¬ 
ticularly  active  at  night-time.  Not  only  are  they 
very  numerous,  and  their  bite  extremely  irritating, 
but  they  are  so  small  that  no  nets  can  keep  them 
away  from  the  sleeper,  and  they  do  not,  like  the 
mosquito,  give  due  warning  of  their  approach.  They 
chiefly  make  their  appearance  in  the  early  summer, 
and  very  formidable  they  are  at  such  time. 

The  seventh  and  last  kind  that  infest  the  Holy 

Land  are  the  much- dreaded  JBargJiash,  another  species 

of  sand-fly,  with  glistening  white  wings,  to  be  met 

with  in  the  hottest  districts,  such  as  Gaza,  Eamleh, 

the  neighbourhood  of  Tiberias,  and  the  Jordan 

valley.  They  are  specially  active  and  irritable  at 

mid-day  in  May,  June,  and  July.  They  swarm 

on  seme  occasions  so  largely  that  they  fill  the  air, 

and  one  cannot  eat  or  drink  without  being  obliged 

to  swallow  them.  At  these  times  they  reign  supreme, 

and  are  a  positive  plague.  Even  the  natives  of 

Syria  are  tormented  by  them.  This  I  cannot  help 

thinking  must  have  been  the  insect  which  Yinisauf 

describes  as  causing  such  terrible  distress  to  the 

F 


82 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


crusading  army  under  our  Richard  the  First,  when 
they  were  marching  on  the  maritime  plains  not  very 
far  from  Hebron.  He  says  :  “  The  army,  stopping  a 
while  there,  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  speedily  setting 
out  for  Jerusalem,  were  assailed  by  a  most  minute 
kind  of  fly,  flying  about  like  sparks,  which  they 
called  Gincinellce.  With  these  the  whole  neighbour¬ 
ing  region  round  about  was  filled.  These  most 
wretchedly  infested  the  pilgrims,  piercing  with  great 
smartness  the  hands,  necks,  throats,  foreheads,  and 
faces,  and  every  part  that  was  uncovered,  a  most 
violent  burning  tumour  following  the  punctures 
made  by  them,  so  that  all  that  they  stung  looked 
like  lepers.”  He  adds,  “  That  they  could  hardly 
guard  themselves  from  the  most  troublesome  vexa¬ 
tion  by  covering  their  heads  and  necks  with  veils.” 1 
The  white  glistening  wings  of  the  insect  I  have 
described,  which  comes  out  in  such  crowds  in  the 
bright  sun,  would  well  account  for  its  being  com¬ 
pared  to  a  “  spark.”  It  was  at  Ekron,  in  this  same 
Philistine  country,  not  far  from  where  the  crusaders 
met  these  tiny  but  formidable  foes,  that  Baal-zebub, 
“  the  Lord  of  flies,”  was  formally  worshipped,  and 
was  supposed  to  possess  the  power  of  predicting  life 
or  death.2  This  form  of  idolatry  may  well  have 
arisen  from  the  dread  these  insects  inspired.  The 
third  and  fourth  plagues  sent  upon  the  land  of 

1  Harmer’s  Observations ,  vol.  iii.  p.  310.  2  2  Kings  i.  2. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


33 


Egypt  have  been  supposed  to  consist,  the  former 
of  mosquitoes,  and  the  latter  of  innumerable  swarms 
of  sand-flies.1 

The  fly  is  employed  as  a  figure  by  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  who  cries — 

“  Jehovah  will  hiss  for  the  fly 

That  is  in  the  uttermost  part  of  the  streams  of  Egypt.” 2 

A  bold  metaphor,  under  which  a  distressing  inva¬ 
sion  of  the  country  by  vast  hordes  of  Egyptians  is 
graphically  pictured.  The  terror  of  such  a  judg¬ 
ment  may  well  appear  from  what  has  been  said  of 
the  nature  of  the  flies  of  Palestine.  The  connection, 
too,  of  gnats  and  sand-flies  with  the  numerous 
“  streams,”  or  artificial  canals,  of  Egypt,  which 
irrigate  that  verdant  and  garden-like  land,  is  pecu¬ 
liarly  appropriate,  for  such  green  water-courses 
form  the  special  breeding-grounds  of  these  insects. 


Jeremiah  addressing  the  Philistines,  against  whom 
he  is  pronouncing  coming  woe,  exclaims — 

“  How  long  wilt  tliou  cut  thyself  ?  ”  3 

To  this  day  may  be  witnessed  throughout  the  Holy 
Land  the  hideous  sight  which  gave,  rise  to  the  allu¬ 
sion.  The  Derweeshes,  or  Muslim  devotees,  make  a 
practice  of  cutting  themselves  with  sharp  iron  darts, 
pointed  iron  maces,  and  swords.  This  sight  may  be 


1  Exodus  viii.  16-24. 


2  Isaiah  vii.  18.  3  Jeremiah  xlvii.  5. 


34 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


seen  in  public  on  certain  great  occasions  when  some 
so-called  holy  sheikh,  or  some  celebrated  pilgrim 
on  his  journey  to  Mecca,  makes  his  entry  into  a 
city.  The  most  devout,  or  rather  I  should  say  the 
most  fanatical,  Derweeshes  who  may  be  present  at 
such  time,  appear  stripped  naked  to  their  waist,  and 
transfix  their  cheeks,  arms,  and  breasts  with  the 
various  weapons  they  carry,  but  more  especially 
with  their  short  slender  iron  darts,  and  spiked  iron 
maces  with  dagger-like  appendages  at  either  end. 
The  holes  in  their  flesh  into  which  these  instruments 
are  darted,  and  from  which  they  may  afterwards  be 
seen  hanging  down,  have  in  most  instances  been 
pierced  before,  and  have  healed  over,  like  those 
which  are  made  for  ear-rings.  Sometimes  these 
holes  in  the  cheeks  are  skilfully  concealed  beneath 
their  beards.  But  on  other  occasions,  when  their 
feelings  are  wrought  up  to  a  greater  pitch  of  frenzy, 
they  will  seize  their  swords,  and,  first  carefully 
covering  themselves  with  long  sheets,  will  gash 
their  foreheads  till  the  blood  spurts  out  upon  them ! 
All  these  exercises  are  professedly  the  effects  of 
anguish  arising  from  a  sense  of  sin,  an  anguish 
which,  in  some  instances,  we  cannot  doubt  to  be 
genuine. 

These  men,  who  abound  in  Palestine,  are  the 
modern  representatives  of  those  priests  of  Baal, 
who,  during  the  sacrifice  at  Carmel,  in  deep  distress 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


85 


of  mind  when  no  fire  fell  in  answer  to  their  prayers, 
“  cut  themselves  after  their  manner  with  swords  and 
spears  till  the  blood  gushed  out  upon  them.” 1  In  our 
Bibles  it  is  said  they  cut  themselves  “with  knives 
and  lancets.”  The  Hebrew  words  are  hherev ,2  and 
roamahh .3  Hherev ,  rendered  in  our  version  “  knife,” 
is  in  almost  every  instance  (and  it  occurs  three 
hundred  and  ninety  times)  rendered  “sword.”  The 
word  roamahh  is  in  all  the  other  fourteen  passages 
where  it  occurs  plainly  “spear”  or  “javelin.”  The 
reader  will  observe  that  the  correct  rendering,  which 
no  doubt  appeared  too  hold  for  our  translators  to 
adopt,  brings  out  a  lifelike  resemblance  to  the 
practices  of  the  modern  Derweesh  ! 

The  eighty  men,  who,  when  coming  up  to 
Gedaliah,  the  governor  of  the  cities  of  Judah,  were 
so  cruelly  and  treacherously  slain  by  the  conspirator 
Ishmael,  were  in  deep  mourning.  In  describing 
their  appearance,  we  are  told  that,  in  addition  to 
having  their  beards  shaved  and  their  clothes  rent, 
they  had  “  cut  themselves.”  4  Again,  in  drawing 
the  picture  of  severe  and  general  lamentation,  the 
same  prophet  says — 

“  Upon  all  hands  are  gashes.” 5 


1  i  Kings  xviii.  28.  2  3“in  3  rid 

o 

4  Jeremiah  xli.  5* 

5  Jeremiah  xlviii.  37  ;  see  also  Jeremiah  xvi.  6. 


86 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


The  figurative  inquiry,  therefore, 

“  How  long  wilt  thou  cut  thvself  ?  ” 

means,  “  how  long  wilt  thou  he  in  grievous  lamen¬ 
tation  and  distress  ?  ”  It  is  not  a  little  striking 
and  appropriate  that  the  four  allusions  to  this 
cutting,  so  intimately  connected  with  mourning, 
all  occur  in  Jeremiah,  the  prophet  of  lamentation 
and  woe. 


The  almost .  tropical  violence  with  which  the 
winter  rains  sometimes  descend  in  Syria  renders 
travelling  in  certain  parts  during  such  occasions  both 
difficult  and  dangerous.  At  times,  too,  though  these 
occurrences  are  comparatively  rare,  there  are  severe 
snowstorms,  after  which  the  snow  melts  with  great 
suddenness.  As  much  as  half  an  inch  of  rain  has 
been  known  to  fall  within  the  space  of  half  an  hour 
upon  lands  which  were  already  so  steeped  with 
water  that  no  more  could  sink  into  the  soil.  Let 
this  quantity  be  calculated  over  the  wide  area  of 
the  bare  hillsides,  and  the  sudden  and  alarming 
nature  of  the  floods  which  then  visit  a  land,  suffer¬ 
ing  at  other  seasons  rather  from  a  lack  of  water, 
may  well  be  understood.  Lieutenant  Conder,  E.E., 
speaking  of  Bedaween  life,  says :  “  In  more  than 
one  instance,  a  sudden  thunderstorm  in  the  hills 
has  brought  a  flood  down  the  great  valleys,  in  the 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


3; 


bottom  of  which  the  smaller  groups  of  tents  are 
often  found,  and  the  water  has  carried  away  and 
drowned  the  whole  settlement,  together  with  its 
flocks.” 1  Just  such  a  scene  must  have  been  present 
to  our  Saviour’s  imagination  when  He  pictured  the 
fall  of  the  house  built  on  the  sand  during  a  violent 
winter  tempest.2 

Nor  are  these  terribly  sudden  freshets  the  only 
peril  of  floods.  Travellers  in  Syria,  who  pass  through 
the  country  on  ordinary  occasions,  can  form  no  idea 
of  the  fury  possessed  during  storms  by  streams 
which  at  other  times  are  comparatively  small. 
There  are  only  about  half-a-dozen  bridges  in  the 
whole  of  Palestine,  in  addition  to  a  few  ferries  on 
the  Jordan.  All  rivers  have,  therefore,  to  be 
forded,  either  on  foot  or  on  horseback.  Some,  like 
“  that  ancient  river,  the  river  Kishon,”  are  specially 
dangerous  owing  to  their  muddy  and  treacherous 
bottoms.  Along  the  whole  of  the  western  coast  it 
is  usual  to  cross  the  streams  at  their  mouths,  close 
to  the  sea,  where  the  sand  which  they  accumulate 
makes  them  shallower.  This,  however,  in  the  case 
of  heavy  storms,  when  a  strong  surf  is  on  the  beach, 
adds  a  new  peril  to  the  passage. 

I  well  remember  on  one  occasion,  on  a  journey 
from  Beyrout,  after  riding  all  night  along  the  sea- 


1  Tent  Life  in  Palestine,  vol.  ii.  p.  274. 

2  Matthew  vii.  2 6,  27. 


88 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


t 


board,  arriving  alone  with  two  guides,  who  knew 
hut  little  of  that  part  of  the  country,  on  the  hanks 
of  the  river  Aujah,  four  miles  north  of  Jaffa.  It 
was  about  three  o’clock  on  a  cold  morning,  and 


the  river  was  greatly  swollen.  My  guides  did  not 
know  where  to  make  the  passage.  The  first  time 
I  endeavoured  to  cross  at  the  spot  they  indicated, 
my  horse,  struggling  vainly  against  the  torrent, 
turned  back.  I  forced  him  in  again  a  second  time, 
but  had  a  narrow  escape  for  my  life.  A  huge  wave 
rolling  in  caught  us  up,  and  in  its  return  well-nigh 
drew  us  out  to  sea.  I  owed  it  to  the  strength  and 
courage  of  my  horse  that  I  managed  to  escape,  and 
wet  and  shivering,  still  found  myself  standing  by 
the  bank  of  the  river  from  which  I  had  started. 
Here  I  was  compelled  to  wait  until  a  party  of 
peasants,  passing  that  way,  guided  me  to  a  spot 
higher  up,  where,  with  the  water  almost  over  the 
saddle,  I  managed  to  cross  in  their  footsteps.  These 
men,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  undressed  them¬ 
selves,  and  put  their  clothes  in  a  bundle  on  their 
heads,  and  so  walked  over  with  the  stream  breast 
high. 

O 

On  that,  and  on  other  occasions,  when  forced 
during  winter  to  ford  deep,  swollen,  rapid  rivers, 
I  was  able  to  realise  in  all  its  intensity  the 
Psalmist’s  picture  of  the  persecution  and  sorrow 
under  which  Israel  had  well-nigh  sunk — 


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39 


“  Then  the  waters  had  overwhelmed  ns, 

The  stream  had  gone  over  our  soul ; 

Then  the  proud  waters 
Had  gone  over  our  soul.” 1 

Such  experiences  light  up  with  a  vivid  fulness 
of  meaning  the  Saviour’s  supplication  founded  on 
such  a  scene — 

“  Save  me,  0  God, 

For  the  waters  are  come  in  unto  my  soul. 

I  sink  in  deep  mire,  where  there  is  no  standing  ; 

I  am  come  into  depths  of  water,  and  the  flood 
overfloweth  me. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Deliver  me  out  of  the  mire,  and  let  me  not  sink  ; 

May  I  be  delivered  from  them  that  hate  me, 

And  out  of  the  depths  of  waters. 

Let  not  the  flood  of  waters  overflow  me, 

Neither  let  the  deep  swallow  me  up.”  2 

% 

Better,  too,  they  enable  us  to  enter  into  the  rich 
comfort  and  beauty  of  that  tender  promise — 
u  And  now  thus  saith  Jehovah,  Who  created  thee,  Jacob, 

1  Psalm  cxxiv.  4,  5. 

2  Psalm  lxix.  1,  2,  14,  15.  That  these  are  the  words  of  the  Lord 
Christ  appears  plain  from  verse  9,  quoted  in  John  ii.  17 — 

“  Zeal  for  thy  house  consumed  me,” 

and  verse  21,  quoted  in  Matthew  xxvii.  34 — 

“  They  gave  me  gall  for  my  food, 

And  for  my  thirst  they  gave  me  vinegar  to  drink,” 

which  are  evidently  spoken  by  the  same  person.  They  are  a  vivid 
expression  of  that  “  travail  of  his  soul,”  that  anguish  which  He  bore 
for  our  sake  in  the  day  when,  as  our  sinless  substitute — 

“Jehovah  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.” 


90 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


And  who  formed  thee,  Israel ; 

Fear  not,  for  I  have  redeemed  thee, 

I  have  called  thee  by  thy  name,  thou  art  mine. 

When  thou  passest  through  the  waters,  I  will  be  with 
thee, 

And  through  the  rivers,  they  shall  not  overflow  thee.” 1 


The  people  of  Palestine  and  the  surrounding 
countries  are,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to 
remark,  passionately  fond  of  light.  That  is  a 
thoroughly  Eastern  proverb  which  says,  “  Truly  the 
light  is  sweet,”  and  an  equally  characteristic  Oriental 
metaphor  that  puts  “light”  for  joy  and  gladness.2 
Even  poor  people  keep  a  tiny  oil  lamp  burning  all 
night.  This  practice  is  universal,  and  they  are 
greatly  surprised  at  the  darkness  which  reigns  in 
our  houses  at  night-time  after  the  family  has  retired 
to  rest.  When,  therefore,  the  Psalmist,  recounting 
God’s  mercies  towards  Israel,  says,  that  at  the 
Exodus  He  led  them — 

“  All  the  night  with  the  light  of  fire,”  3 

he  not  only  describes  a  miraculous  means  of  guid¬ 
ance,  but  one  which  to  an  Eastern  nation  was  full 
of  peculiar  comfort.  Hence  in  the  East  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  a  light  came  to  signify  the  continuance  of 
life,  for  as  long  as  a  man  was  living  he  kept  a 

1  Isaiah  xliii.  I,  2.  2  Ecclesiastes  xi.  7  ;  Esther  viii.  1 6. 

3  Psalm  lxxviii.  14. 


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91 


lamp  burning.  So  Job  declares  of  tlie  hypocrite’s 
destruction — 

a  Yea,  the  light  of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out, 

•  •  •  • 

The  light  shall  become  dark  in  his  tent, 

And  his  lamp  over  him  shall  go  out.”  1 

And  again — 

“  How  often  is  the  lamp  of  the  wicked  put  out  ? 

And  their  destruction  cometh  upon  them  ?  ”2 

The  wise  man,  speaking  of  retributive  justice, 
says — 

“  The  light  of  the  righteous  shall  rejoice  ; 

But  the  lamp  of  the  wicked  shall  be  put  out.”  3 

If  in  the  East  a  lamp  is  out  at  night,  it  must  be 
because  the  house  is  empty  and  the  occupant  gone. 
In  the  threatened  destruction  of  Judah  and  all  the 
nations  round  about  at  the  hands  of  the  king  of 
Babylon,  the  final  touch  to  the  picture  of  ruin  is 
this,  “  I  will  cause  to  perish  from  them  .  .  .  the  light 
of  the  lamp.”  4  And  in  the  j  udgment  which  is  yet 
to  come  upon  the  mystical  Babylon,  described  so 
graphically  in  the  Bevelation,  it  is  declared,  “the 
light  of  a  lamp  shall  shine  no  more  at  all  in 
thee.” 5 

To  give  any  one  a  lamp  in  a  place  came  in  the 
same  way  to  mean  to  establish  his  house  and  line 

1  Job  xviii.  5,  6.  2  Job  xxi.  17.  3  Proverbs  xiii.  9. 

4  Jeremiah  xxv.  10.  0  Bevelation  xviii.  23. 


92 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


in  that  place.  In  the  days  of  Jehoram,  who  did 
evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  as  the  natural  conse¬ 
quence  of  having  the  daughter  of  Aliab  for  his  wife, 
we  read,  “Yet  Jehovah  would  not  destroy  Judah, 
for  David  his  servant’s  sake,  as  he  promised  him 
to  give  to  him  a  lamp  for  his  sons  always  .” 1  And 
again  of  wicked  Abijam,  who  “walked  in  all  the 
sins  of  his  father,”  it  is  said,  “  Nevertheless  for 
David’s  sake  Jehovah  his  God  gave  him  a  lamp  in 
Jerusalem ,  to  set  up  his  son  after  him,  and  to 
establish  Jerusalem.”2  When  Ahijah  the  Shilonite 
announced  to  Jeroboam  that  God  intended  to  wrest 
ten  tribes  from  the  hand  of  Solomon,  and  give  them 
to  his  rule,  he  added  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
“And  to  his  (Solomon’s)  son  will  I  give  one  tribe, 
(that  is,  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  which  remained 
steadfast  to  the  kingdom  of  Judah),  that  David  my 
servant  may  have  a  light  always  before  me  in  Jeru¬ 
salem,  the  city  which  I  have  chosen  for  myself  to 
put  my  name  there.”  3  It  must  he  borne  in  mind 
that  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  all  its  northern 
suburbs,  stood  in  the  territory  of  Benjamin.  Had 
this  tribe  joined  the  ten  in  their  revolt  against  the 
throne  of  Solomon,  the  royal  city  could  not  have 
remained,  as  God  had  promised  it  should,  the 
dwelling-place  of  the  kings  of  David’s  line;  that 
is,  in  the  highly  figurative  language  of  Bible  lands, 

1  2  Kings  viii.  19.  2  1  Kings  xv.  4.  3  1  Kings  xi.  36. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  9  3 

their  lamp  in  the  Holy  City  would  have  been  put 
out. 

A  striking  winter  feature  of  Bethany,  the  modern 
El  ’ Amriyeh ,  is  a  number  of  almond  trees,  which 
cluster  round  the  poor  ruined  village,  leafless  as 
yet,  hut  beginning  to  put  forth,  early  in  February, 
an  abundance  of  whitish  blossoms  largely  tinged 
with  pink.  I  have  often  admired  this  little  grove, 
and  whilst  doing  so  have  felt  that  in  the  solemn 
and  affecting  description  of  the  closing  scene  of 
life — the  seventh  age  of  man — given  11s  in  the 
last  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes,  this  tree  cannot  have 
been  introduced  to  picture  the  whiteness  of  an  old 
head.  This  light  cheerful  rose-colour  displays  far 
more  the  bloom  of  youth  than  the  snows  of  age. 
It  is  difficult  to  understand  why  our  translators 
here  render  na-atz 1  by  the  word  “  flourish,”  seeing 
that  this  Hebrew  term  means  in  every  other  place 
“  to  provoke,”  “  abhor,”  or  “  despise.”  It  is  here  in 
the  hijphel  mood,  the  mood  which  implies  “  causing,” 
and  the  right  rendering  would  naturally  seem  to  be 
“  the  almond  ”  (that  is  its  nut,  which  is  throughout 
the  Holy  Land  a  very  favourite  and  constant  article 
of  food)  “  causes  loathing,  and  the  locust  ”  (which 
others  can  eat)  “  is  a  burden  ”  to  the  aged,  tooth¬ 
less  old  man.2  The  previous  verses,  it  is  true, 

1  END  2  Ecclesiastes  xii.  5. 


94 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


contain  a  series  of  figures ;  but  at  this  fifth  verse 
there  is  a  change,  and  what  is  there  stated  is  a  sad 
literal  account  of  nature’s  decay. 

Well  may  the  poetic  Eastern  fancy  have  viewed 
this  early  active  tree  as  nature’s  vigilant  “  watcher.” 
Shakaid 1  is  its  Hebrew  name,  from  the  root 
shakad ,2  “  to  wake  ”  or  “  watch.”  While  the  other 
trees  are  still  lifeless  and  bare,  the  almond  has  long 
woke  up  from  the  sleep  of  winter,  and  looked 
round,  as  it  were,  for  the  yet  dormant  growth  of 
the  new  year.  The  fact  of  this  tree’s  still  lingering 
in  a  neighbourhood  where  so  little  wood  is  now 
left  seems  to  show  that  it  was  once  very  plentiful 
there.  The  prophet,  who  lived  at  Anathoth,  the 
modern  Anata ,  only  some  four  miles  north  of 
Bethany,  was  therefore  in  all  probability  familiar 
enough  with  the  symbol  employed,  when  he  heard 
the  words,  “  Jeremiah,  what  seest  thou  ?  ”  and 
replied,  “  I  see  a  branch  of  an  almond  (or  watcher) 
tree.”  He  would  well  understand  the  significant 
words  which  immediately  followed,  when  the  Lord 
said,  “  Thou  hast  w^ell  seen :  for  I  will  watch  over 
my  word  to  perform  it.” 3  The  rendering  in  our 
version  is,  “  I  will  hasten  my  word  to  perform  it.” 
There  appears,  however,  no  idea  of  haste  intended 
at  all,  but  rather  the  thought  of  a  vigilance  which 
points  to  waiting.  And  this,  it  will  be  seen,  pre- 

1  2  PpE?i  3  Jeremiah  i.  II,  12. 

'•*  T  T  7 


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95 


serves  the  striking  play  upon  the  words  “watcher- 
tree  ”  and  “  watch/’  which  are  respectively  the  sub¬ 
stantive  and  verbal  form  of  the  same  root. 

How  wonderful  is  the  patience  of  God  !  Many 
willingly  ignorant  mistake  the  Lord’s  long-suffering 
for  slackness.  But  He  who  is  Divine  Patience  and 
Divine  Truth  ceaselessly  watches  over  His  word  to 
perform  it  in  due  season.  Therefore  it  is  that  not 
“  one  jot  or  one  tittle,”  that  is,  one  yod '}  the  smallest 
Hebrew  character,  or  even  so  much  as  one  of  the 
still  smaller  fine  upturned  strokes,  “tittles,”  or  rather 
“  little  horns,”  which  distinguish  some  of  the  Hebrew 
consonants,1 2  shall  pass  away  till  all  has  been  literally 
fulfilled.3  The  golden  candlestick  of  the  Tabernacle, 
like  Aaron’s  rod,  exhibited  in  each  of  its  branches 
flower,  fruit,  and  stem  of  the  almond.4  Type  as 
this  sacred  vessel  was  of  the  Church  of  the  first¬ 
born,  may  not  these  ornaments  have  prefigured 
God’s  watchful  care  over  the  Written  Word,  the 
oracles  of  grace,  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the 
Church,  which,  notwithstanding  that  Church’s  un- 

1  the  Hebrew  letter  yod,  or  i,  pronounced  e. 

2  The  Kepaia,  Tceraia ,  “tittle,”  or  rather  “little  horn,”  may  be 
seen  in  the  tiny  turn  on  the  left-hand  top  corner  of  the  1*  daleth,  or 
Hebrew  letter  d,  by  the  height  of  which  it  is  distinguished  from 
the  “1,  resh,  or  Hebrew  letter  r.  Three  of  these  “  little  horns  ” 
occur  on  &,  or  sh,  called  shin,  and  they  are  found  on  many  other 
Hebrew  letters. 

3  Matthew  v.  18. 


4  Exodus  xxv.  31-35. 


g6 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


faithfulness,  He  has  so  marvellously  preserved,  and 
so  unfailingly  accomplished  ? 


There  is  a  common  belief  amongst  the  towns¬ 
people  and  villagers  of  Palestine,  and  the  Bcdaween 
of  the  surrounding  deserts,  that  hidden  treasures 
exist  underground  in  numerous  places,  and  many 
spend  much  of  their  time  in  seeking  to  discover 
them.  Sometimes  incantations  are  used  for  this 
purpose.  So  rooted  is  this  belief  amongst  all  classes 
of  people,  that  whenever  they  see  Europeans  engaged 
in  the  exploration  of  the  country  or  its  ruins,  they 
conclude  at  once  that  the  explorers  are  seeking  for 
buried  wealth,  and  nothing  will  persuade  them  to 
the  contrary.  This  is  one  of  the  great  hindrances 
to  scientific  researches  in  Syria,  rendering  them 
always  difficult,  and  often  dangerous.  It  greatly 
impeded  the  recent  Ordnance  Survey. 

Ho  doubt  the  universal  traditions  which  exist  as 
to  hidden  treasures  rest  on  a  good  foundation.  In 
all  parts  of  Syria  the  produce  of  the  land  is  stored 
up  in  a  kind  of  underground  cistern,  called  a  silloh, 
generally  in  -the  form  of  a  huge  jar.  Such  secret 
places  are  scattered  here  and  there  in  the  “field,” 
or  open  cultivated  plain,  and  are  carefully  concealed 
from  strangers.  Ten  out  of  the  eighty  men  whom 
Ishmael  the  conspirator  sought  to  slay,  escaped  by 


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97 


promising  to  reveal  the  spots  where  they  possessed 
such  buried  treasure.  “  Do  not  kill  us,”  they  cried, 
“for  we  have  hidden  stores  in  the  field,  of  wheat, 
and  of  barley,  and  of  oil,  and  of  honey.”  1  Had 
death  or  foreign  captivity  overtaken  them  suddenly, 
here  might  have  been  ten  sources  of  hidden  treasure 
in  the  region  of  Shechem,  Shiloh,  and  Samaria,  to 
he  found  some  day  by  others.  It  was  certainly  a 
common  practice  to  deposit  large  sums  of  money  at 
the  conclusion  of  their  funeral  rites  in  the  tombs  of 
kings  and  nobles,  which  accounts  for  the  careful 
sealing  of  such  sepulchres  by  means  of  huge  rolling- 
stones  and  other  ingenious  apparatus. 

It  seems,  too,  that  on  many  occasions  besides 
funerals,  and  in  many  places  besides  tombs,  it  was 
usual  to  bury  considerable  wealth.  Eepeatedly  of 
late  hidden  treasures  of  this  kind  have  been  brought 
to  light.  A  large  number  of  gold  Alexanders  were 
recently  discovered  at  Tyre.  A  quantity  of  genuine 
silver  shekels  were  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Jericho  during  the  winter  of  1873.  At  Haifa 
many  Byzantine  coins  were  found  under  the  sill  of 
a  doorway  in  the  gardens.  During  the  exploration 
of  the  ruin  in  Jerusalem  known  as  the  Mauristan, 
which  now  belongs  to  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  a 
pot  of  gold  coins  was  discovered.  It  will  be  seen 
from  this  how  natural  was  the  conduct  of  the 


1  Jeremiah  xli.  8. 


G 


98  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

wicked  and  slothful  servant  in  the  Parable  of  the 
Talents,  who,  in  order  to  put  the  sum  he  had 
received  in  a  safe  place,  “  went  and  digged  in  the 
earth,  and  hid  his  lord’s  money.”1  Thus,  too,  we 
find  that  Aclian  only  adopted  the  usual  hiding-place 
when  stowing  away  “  the  goodly  robe  of  Shinar  ” 
and  the  silver  and  gold,  which  he  had  coveted  and 
stolen  from  the  doomed  spoil  of  Jericho.  In  his  con¬ 
fession  he  said,  “  Behold,  they  are  hidden  in  the  earth 
in  the  midst  of  my  tent,  and  the  silver  under  it.”  2 
It  would  appear  also  from  recent  finds  that  such 
sums  of  money  were  constantly  buried  in  common 
earthenware  jars,  the  better  to  aid  in  their  conceal¬ 
ment.  May  there  not  be  an  allusion  to  this  custom 
when  the  Apostle  Paul,  speaking  of  the  grace  of 
God  in  the  believer,  says,  “We  have  this  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels  ”  ? 3  May  it  not  be  also  that  when 
he  speaks  of  Christ  as  He  “  in  whom  are  hidden 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,”  the 
Apostle  is  contrasting,  under  the  same  bold  and 
familiar  figure,  the  weak  human  body  which  He 
took  upon  Him  at  His  incarnation,  with  the  mighty 
wisdom  and  power  of  the  secret  indwelling  fulness 
of  the  Godhead  ? 4  To  the  eye  of  the  natural  man 
that  “  body  of  humiliation,”  like  an  earthen  jar, 
entirely  concealed  the  hidden  treasure  of  Deity 

1  Matthew  xxv.  18.  2  Joshua  vii.  21,  22. 

3  2  Corinthians  iv.  7.  4  Colossians  ii.  3. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


99 


so  tliat  to  such  an  one  He  appeared  only  as  “  the 
son  of  Joseph,”  “the  carpenter”  of  Nazareth,  or 
at  best  as  Joliu  the  Baptist,  Elijah,  or  one  of  the 
prophets. 

Possibly  it  is  with  reference  to  the  universal 
importance  attached  to  the  subject  of  buried  treasure 
that  the  promise  to  Cyrus  of  wealth  and  prosperity 
runs — 

“  I  will  give  thee  the  treasures  of  darkness, 

And  hidden  riches  of  secret  places.” 1 

It  is  certain  that  such  is  the  bold  figure  used  by 

Job  when  he  speaks  of  the  miserable  and  bitter  in 

soul  as  those — 

“  Who  long  for  death,  but  it  cometh  not ; 

And  dig  for  it  more  than  for  hidden  treasures.” 2 

Solomon,  too,  uses  the  same  comparison  when  speak¬ 
ing  of  that  sincere  and  eager  pursuit  of  heavenly 
wisdom  which  never  fails  of  its  reward — 

“  If  thou  seekest  her  like  silver, 

And  searcliest  for  her  as  for  hidden  treasures  : 

Then  shalt  thou  understand  the  fear  of  Jehovah, 

And  find  the  knowledge  of  God.”  3 


There  is  scarcely  one  good  road  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  Palestine.  Travellers,  as 
they  manage  to  pass  their  horses  with  difficulty 
'along  the  wretched  highways,  or  choose  some 

1  Isaiah  xlv.  2  Job  iii.  21.  3  Proverbs  ii.  4,  5. 


100 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


adjacent  path  over  the  open  plain  as  far  preferable 
to  the  road  itself,  often  wonder  whence  come  the 
huge  rough  stones,  which  so  constantly  obstruct 
the  way.  I  was  at  a  great  loss  to  account  for  the 
presence  of  these,  until  my  attention  was  called,  by 
Mr.  Schick,  our  able  architect  at  J erusalem,  to  the 
manner  in  which  many  of  them  are  brought  there. 
The  camel,  horse,  and  mule  drivers,  when  they  find 
the  burdens  they  have  arranged  on  the  backs  of 
their  sumpter  animals  are  not  equally  poised,  instead 
of  rearranging  them,  have  a  cruel  and  senseless 
custom  of  seizing  any  large  stone  which  comes  to 
hand,  and  placing  it  on  that  side  where  the  weight 
is  deficient.  This  stone  in  time  jolts  off,  and  is 
replaced  by  another,  and  often  by  a  third  and  a 
fourth,  and  in  any  case  at  the  journey’s  end,  or 
when  the  animals  are  unloaded,  is  left  where  it 
falls  in  the  midst  of  the  way.  Besides  this,  in 
clearing  the  vineyards,  gardens,  and  arable  lands, 
stones  are  constantly  thrown  out  on  to  the  nearest 
road. 

None  of  the  highways,  moreover,  are  at  any  time 
properly  metalled,  and  in  winter  they  suffer  very 
severely  from  the  tropical  torrents  of  rain.  Neither 
is  there  any  adequate  provision  for  keeping  them 
in  permanent  order  even  if  they  were  efficiently 
made.  This  condition  of  the  highways  causes  very 
serious  inconvenience  in  a  land  where  every  journey 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


10  I 


lias  to  be  made  on  horseback,  or  on  foot.  Matters 
were  not  so  bad  in  the  time  of  those  master  road- 
makers,  the  Bomans,  but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  highways  were  ever  in  much  better  order  under 
purely  Jewish  rulers.  The  whole  character  and  in¬ 
stitutions  of  the  despotic  East  make  against  the 
proper  preservation  of  works  of  this  kind  which 
benefit  the  community  at  large. 

An  intensely  interesting  papyrus  has  been  found 
in  Egypt,  dating,  it  is  supposed,  about  the  fourteenth 
century  before  Christ,  that  is,  as  far  back  as  the 
time  of  Israel  under  the  Judges,  probably  the  period 
of  their  oppression  by  Jabin,  king  of  Canaan.  It 
gives  an  account  of  the  adventures  of  the  first 
traveller  in  Palestine  of  whose  complete  tour  we 
have  any  record.  This  gentleman  was  an  Egyptian 
officer,  •  called  a  Makar,  a  man  evidently  of  some 
importance,  and  he  is  represented  as  travelling  in 
an  iron  chariot.  His  journey  begins  at  Aleppo, 
and  he  visits  a  town  near  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  where  a  meeting  has  been  arranged  with 
other  Mohars.  Thence  by  the  Jordan  valley  he 
travels  to  Betlishan  and  to  Megiddo,  which  has  been 
identified  during  the  work  of  the  survey  of  Western 
Palestine  with  the  important  ruin  of  Mujedda,  and 
goes  up  its  Weak,  or  deep  cleft  between  the  hills. 
Next  he  goes  to  En-Gannim,  Jenin,  through  the 
aimele,  or  broad  plain,  of  J ezreel,  and  passing  Dothan 


102  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

* 

by  the  road  along  which  the  Midianites  bore  Joseph 
into  Egypt,  lie  crosses  the  pass,  now  called  Wady 
Mussin,  and  descends  into  the  plain  of  Sharon.  After 
an  enforced  stay  at  Joppa,  he  returns  by  an  inland  road 
at  the  foot  of  the  Judean  hills  to  his  own  country. 
A  reference  to  the  graphic  account  of  this  ancient 
traveller  will  show  how  remarkably  similar  were 
the  incidents  of  a  journey  in  Palestine  two  thousand 
five  hundred  years  ago  to  those  of  the  present  day. 
As  long  as  the  Mohar  kept  to  the  plains,  which  he 
appears  to  have  done  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
way,  he  seems  to  have  managed  to  proceed  tolerably 
well ;  but  no  sooner  do  we  find  him  on  a  mountain 
road,  at  the  pass  of  Wady  Mussin,  even  though  that 
road  appears  to  have  been  the  long-established 
caravan  route  into  Egypt,  than  he  tells  us  he 
finds  the  way  full  of  “rocks  and  rolling-stones/’ 
“  obstructed  by  hollies,  prickly  pear,  aloes,  and 
bushes  called  jackal-shoes.”  His  horses  take  fright, 
the  pole  of  his  carriage  becomes  broken,  and  in  a 
pitiable  plight  he  manages  with  difficulty  to  reach 
Jaffa  some  twenty-five  miles  away  on  the  plain.1 

Even  in  the  palmy  days  of  Solomon,  Josephus 
tells  us  as  an  instance  of  his  extraordinary  magni¬ 
ficence,  that  he  “  did  not  neglect  the  care  of  the 
ways,  but  he  laid  a  causeway  of  black  stone  [most 
probably  the  hard,  black  basalt  stone  of  the  country] 

1  Records  of  the  Past ,  vol.  ii.  pp.  107-116. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  I  O  3 

along  tlie  roads  that  led  to  Jerusalem,  which  was 
the  royal  city,  both  to  render  them  easy  for 
travellers,  and  to  manifest  the  grandeur  of  his 
riches  and  government.” 1  From  the  mention  of 
these  roads  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  capital 
as  a  very  remarkable  affair,  we  may  gather  that 
the  other  roads  were  not  in  a  very  different  state 
from  that  in  which  we  find  them  now. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  almost  impassable  con¬ 
dition  of  the  highways  at  ordinary  times,  I  have 
repeatedly  observed  that  on  a  few  occasions  for 
brief  intervals  they  were  carefully  mended.  These 
few  occasions  were  those  of  the  arrivals  of  some 
royal  personages.  As  soon  as  it  was  known  at 
Jerusalem  that  a  king  or  prince  of  the  blood  was 
about  to  come  through  any  of  the  adjacent  parts  of 
Palestine  which  lie  within  that  pashalic,  orders 
were  forthwith  issued  to  the  people  of  the  various 
towns  and  villages  to  put  all  the  roads  in  order 
over  which  it  was  arranged  he  should  pass.  This 
was  done  as  usual  by  means  of  enforced  labour, 
as  was  probably  the  case  in  former  times.  I  re¬ 
member  once  having  to  ride,  with  I)r.  Chaplin,  from 
Jerusalem  to  Shechem  ( Nablous ),  a  distance  of  forty 
miles,  just  before  one  of  the  Eussian  Grand-dukes 
was  expected  to  come  that  way,  and  finding,  to  my 
great  surprise  and  comfort,  that  the  road,  generally 

1  Antiquities  of  the  Jews ,  book  viii.  chap.  vii.  sec.  4.  ' 


104 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


in  such  a  state  as  to  make  any  bye-path  preferable, 
was  now  perfectly  smooth  and  in  order  throughout. 
The  stones  had  been  gathered  out,  the  broken- 
down  embankments  had  been  cast  up,  and  the 
shelving  and  slippery  ledges  of  rock  on  the  brinks 
of  precipices  had  been  covered  with  a  thin  coat  of 
earth. 

Hence  the  proclamation  in  Isaiah — 

u  Pass  ye,  pass  ye  through  the  gates, 

Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  people  ; 

Cast  up,  cast  up  the  highway,  clear  away  the  stones, 
Lift  up  a  standard  for  the  peoples. 

Behold  Jehovah  hath  proclaimed  unto  the  end  of 
the  world  : 

Say  ye  to  the  daughter  of  Zion, 

Behold,  thy  salvation  cometh  ! 

Behold,  his  reward  is  with  him, 

And  his  recompense  is  before  him.”1 

Here  the  coming  of  Christ  is  foretold,  and  the  pre¬ 
paration  for  the  Advent  of  Israel’s  Divine  King 
commanded,  under  the  striking  figure  of  the  usual 
orders  issued  to  make  ready  the  highway  for  a 
royal  procession.  The  Gentile  nations  are  directed 
to  pass  out  of  the  gates  of  their  cities  in  order  to 
remove  all  obstacles  from  His  way,  and  to  prepare 
the  road  of  the  Lord  and  make  His  paths  straight, 
by  repentance  and  faith, — a  repentance  and  faith 
specially  evidenced  by  kindness  towards  His  ancient 

1  Isaiah  lxii.  io,  n. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  I  O  5 

people  Israel.  Residents  in  Jerusalem  of  late  years 
liave  had  several  excellent  opportunities  of  observ¬ 
ing  the  prophet’s  allusion,  and  have  learned  to  look 
forward  eagerly  to  the  coming  of  some  royal  visitor, 
if  for  no  other  reason,  on  account  of  the  great 
improvements  immediately  made  in  the  roads  upon 
which  he  is  about  to  travel. 

Amongst  the  many  ancient  and  interesting 
customs  that  still  linger  in  the  villages  of  the 
land  of  Israel,  is  one  that  may  he  witnessed  in 
those  years  when  the  harvest  is  bountiful,  and 
the  tax-farmer  not  too  rapacious.  It  consists  of  a 
feast  called  in  Arabic  a  kctwad,  that  is,  “  a  gathering 
held  at  a  holy  place.”  This  feast,  which  is  regarded 
as  a  thank-offering  for  a  good  harvest,  occurs  at  the 
time  when  the  grain  produced  by  the  winter  crop 
of  wheat  and  barley  has  all  been  gathered  in  and 
stored  away.  It  is  given  by  the  chief  farmers  of 
the  village,  who  join  together  for  this  purpose,  and 
invite  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  place,  rich  and 
poor,  and  any  stranger  that  may  chance  to  be 
amongst  them.  The  Imccm,  or  Mohammedan  village 
priest,  whose  position  answers  somewhat  to  that  of 
the  Levite  amongst  the  Israelites,  occupies  a  chief 
seat  on  such  occasions,  and  the  feast  is  held  at  a 
Mukam,  or  “  sacred  place,”  on  some  liill-top,  either 
at  the  tomb  @f  a  JVely,  or  Mohammedan  saint, 


10  6 


PALESTINE  EXPLOITED. 


or  under  a  sacred  tree.  A  considerable  number 
of  sheep,  and  sometimes  even  one  or  two  oxen,  are 
roasted  and  eaten.  This  feast  is  accompanied  by 
singing,  and  native  dances  conducted  entirely  by 
men,  and  part  of  the  festivities  consist  in  the  giving 
away  of  wheat  and  other  grains  to  the  poor.  It  is 
a  time  of  very  great  and  general  rejoicing.  Mr. 
Samuel  Bergheim,  who  has  had  seven  years’  experi¬ 
ence  of  farming  at  Abou  Shousheh ,  the  ancient 
Gezer,  has  recently  given  an  interesting  account  of 
this  annual  feast,  and  observes  that  it  is  “  falling 
into  disuse  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the 
peasant.”  1  It  would  seem  that  to  scenes  such  as 
these  the  prophet  Isaiah  refers  when  speaking  of 
the  gladness  brought  by  the  Advent  of  Christ,  in 
the  first  instance  to  Galilee  of  the  nations,  and 
afterwards  to  all  the  land  of  Israel.  He  cries — 

“  Tliou  multipliest  the  nation,  ^ 

Thou  dost  increase  the  joy  tor  it : 

They  joy  before  thee,  according  to  the 
joy  in  harvest.”  2 

When  life  has  been  taken  in  any  of  the  frequent 
encounters  amongst  the  Palestine  fcllahheen,  a  blood- 

1  Agriculture  in  Palestine,  pp.  664  and  724,  Sunday  at  Home 
for  1879. 

2  Isaiah  ix.  3.  The  translation  given  above  adopts  a  reading  of 
the  Hebrew  text  to  be  fonnd  in  the  margin  of  our  Bibles,  and  one 
which  the  whole  context  of  the  passage  seems  to  require. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  107 

feud  arises,  in  which  the  nearest  relative,  as 
“  avenger  of  blood,”  is  bound  by  the  customary  law 
of  the  land  to  take  the  slayer’s  life.  In  some  cases 
a  blood  fine,  Deeyeh ,  is  taken  in  lieu  of  life,  which 
amounts  to  4000  piastres,  or  about  £35,  for  a 
man,  and  half  that  amount  for  a  woman.  When 
this  is  not  paid,  and  even  in  many  cases  when  it 
is,  their  sense  of  honour  requires  the  taking  of  a 
life  for  a  life.  The  Thar ,  or  “  blood-revenge,”  is 
binding  upon  the  relatives  of  the  murdered  person 
to  the  fifth  degree  of  consanguinity.  Hence 
fugitives  are  constantly  to  be  found  who  are 
seeking  to  escape  from  avengers  of  blood,  and  in 
need  of  a  refuge.  This  is  only  to  be  had  now, 
in  the  absence  of  cities  of  refuge,  by  claiming 
the  privilege  of  “  sanctuary.”  It  may  be  done  in 
three  ways.  First,  by  flying  to  a  mosque,  or  to  a 
Muham.  Secondly,  by  escaping  to  the  house  of 
some  neutral  person,  who  rarely  is  known  to 
refuse  the  protection  and  shelter  of  his  roof  in 
such  a  case,  and  who  would  be  for  ever  disgraced 
if  he  did.  The  open  door  of  such  a  house  once 
passed  is  invariably  respected,  and  many  lives  are 
saved  in  this  way,  the  fugitive  remaining  as  the 
guest  of  the  host  he  has  thus  taken  by  storm  until 
such  time  as  matters  have  been  sufficiently  settled 
to  enable  him  to  leave  without  risk. 

There  is,  however,  a  third  method  of  taking 


108  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

sanctuary ,  which  in  all  probability  existed  like  the 
others  in  ancient  times.  A  man  when  run  down 
may  save  himself  at  the  very  last  by  calling  out, 
“  I  am  the  DaJiheel  of  (that  is,  one  who  has  entered 
the  dwelling  of)  such  an  one,”  mentioning  the  name 
of  some  person  of  power  or  rank.  According  to 
their  custom,  the  protection  of  the  person  invoked 
is  gained  by  thus  merely  calling  upon  his  name. 
It  is  held  to  be  as  though  the  fugitive  had  succeeded 
in  entering  the  tents  or  dwelling  of  the  person  he 
mentions.  In  such  a  case,  if  the  avengers  of  blood 
refuse  to  listen  to  the  appeal,  and  take  the  man- 
slayer’s  life,  the  person  on  whose  name  he  has 
called  is  bound,  by  their  code  of  honour,  to  take 
swift  and  summary  vengeance.  When  they  are  in 
the  act  of  killing  him,  the  fugitive  turns  to  some 
one  who  is  present,  and  cries,  “  Ana  dahlieel  fulan, 
el  cimaneli  andah ,” — “  I  am  the  Dahheel  of  such  an 
one — the  trust  is  with  thee.”  By  these  words  the 
dying  man  commits  to  the  one  he  addresses  the 
sacred  duty  of  informing  the  protector  who  was 
invoked  of  what  has  taken  place,  and  of  relating 
how  the  victim  was  slain  in  despite  of  the  respect 
due  to  his  name.  One  so  addressed  is  bound  by 
every  principle  of  religion  and  honour,  however 
much  he  may  dislike  doing  so,  to  accept  and  carry 
out  this  trust.  To  neglect  to  carry  out  an  amdnek, 
or  “trust,”  is  in  their  estimation  not  only  a  deep 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


109 


disgrace,  but  an  unpardonable  sin.  To  call  a  man 
Khayin  el  amaneh,  “  the  breaker  of  a  trust,”  is  to 
give  him  the  vilest  character  that  can  be  borne. 

When  tidings  have  been  brought  to  the  person 
whose  name  was  invoked  by  the  victim  of  the 
avengers  of  blood,  he  has  the  right  of  gathering 
together  all  his  friends  and  allies  to  assist  him  in 
punishing  the  outrage,  and  establishing  the  honour 
of  his  name.  With  the  customary  cry,  “  Who  is 
on  my  side  ?  Who  ”  ? 1  he  calls  upon  them  to  join 
their  armed  followers  with  his  own  men.  He 
then  marches  to  the  place  where  his  Dahheel  was 
slain,  and  has  a  right  to  take  vengeance  upon  all 
who  were  concerned  in  killing  him  during  three 
and  one- third  days,  by  putting  to  death  all  the 
men,  and  seizing  all  the  property.  For  this  act 
of  summary  vengeance  no  blood-revenge  or  blood- 
money  can  ever  be  claimed.  When  the  three  and 
one-third  days  are  over  a  white  flag  is  hoisted  on  a 
pole  or  spear  by  the  relatives  of  the  Dalihcel  who 
was  put  to  death,  in  honour  of  his  protector.  Any 
of  the  offenders  who  have  escaped  with  their  lives 
may  now  return  in  safety,  and  resume  possession  of 
whatever  is  left  of  their  property.2 

1  2  Kings  ix.  32. 

2  I  am  indebted  for  the  above  facts  to  a  very  able  and  interesting 
article  by  Mrs.  Finn,  entitled  The  Fellahheen  of  Palestine,  which 
appeared  in  the  Quarterly  Statement  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund,  January  1879. 


I  10 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


There  would  appear  to  be  several  allusions  to 
this  mode  of  taking  sanctuary  in  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  Testament.  Let  Psalm  xx.  be  read  in  this 
light.  It  is  a  prayer  of  the  people  for  their  king 
when  he  is  in  danger  of  his  life.  The  Psalmist 
cries — 

“  The  name  of  the  God  of  Jacob  defend  thee. 

•  •  •  • 

Some  trust  in  chariots,  and  some  in  horses, 

But  we  will  make  mention  of  the  name  of  Jehovah 
our  God.” 1 

And  rejoicing  by  anticipation  in  the  salvation  that 
this  Name  will  bring,  he  cries,  in  apparent  allu¬ 
sion  to  the  flag  that  is  set  up  to  the  protector’s 
honour — 

£<  We  will  rejoice  in  thy  salvation, 

And  in  the  name  of  our  God  will  we  set  up 
a  banner.”  2 

Again,  in  another  Psalm  of  David,  whose  adven¬ 
turous  life  of  border  warfare  had  doubtless  led  him 
to  become  very  familiar  with  matters  of  sanctuary, 
there  seems  a  further  reference  to  the  same 
custom — 

“  Save  me,  0  God,  by  thy  name, 

And  by  thy  might  vindicate  me. 

•  •  •  • 

For  strangers  are  risen  up  against  me, 

And  oppressors  seek  after  my  life.”  3 

1  Psalm  xx.  i,  7.  2  Psalm  xx.  5.  3  Psalm  liv.  1,  3. 


MISCELLANEOUS  ILLUSTRATIONS.  I  I  I 

Exulting  in  tlie  power  of  Jehovah’s  exalted  name, 
and  the  certainty  of  His  vindicating  those  who 
appeal  to  it,  lie  adds — 

“  Behold,  God  is  my  helper, 

•  •  •  • 

He  will  return  the  evil  unto  mine  enemies ; 

In  thy  truth  cut  them  off.”  1 

But  still  plainer  is  the  allusion  of  the  wise  man, 
when,  speaking  of  the  Divine  protection,  he  says — 

“The  name  of  Jehovah  is  a  strong  tower, 

The  righteous  runneth  into  it,  and  is  safe,”2 

Here  the  believer  who  honours  God  by  publicly 
calling  upon  His  name,  and  by  confessing  his  trust 
in  the  Most  High  as  his  defender,  is  represented  as 
if  he  had  fled  into  a  strong  place  of  refuge,  where 
he  finds  safety  from  his  foes.  When  Satan,  like 
the  avenger  of  blood,  seeks  our  destruction,  let  us 
call  upon  the  name  of  our  great  and  compassionate 
Champion.  The  believing  soul  that  in  simple  trust 
turns  to  the  Lord  Jesus  and  makes  mention  of 
His  righteousness  only ;  the  soul  that  thus  appeals  to 
Christ  by  confessing  its  own  helplessness  and  danger, 
and  by  placing  itself  unreservedly  under  His  pro¬ 
tection,  shall  assuredly  find  the  help  of  One  who  is 
mighty  to  save,  and  who  never  fails  to  vindicate 
the  honour  of  His  great  name. 


1  Psalm  liv.  4,  5* 


2  Proverbs  xviii.  10. 


I  I  2  ) 


( 


CHAPTER  IY. 

SHIVERING  THE  POTTERS  VESSEL. 

“  And  its  shivering  shall  be  like  the  shivering  of  the  potter’s 
vessel, 

That  is  broken  in  pieces  unsparingly.” 

— Isaiah  xxx.  14. 

That  glorious  Messianic  hymn,  the  second  Psalm, 
thus  describes  the  final  doom  of  those  who  oppose 
the  kingdom  of  God’s  dear  Son — 

“  Thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter’s  vessel.” 1 

The  connection  in  which  the  words  occur  prepares 
us  to  expect  that  they  would  contain  a  very  pointed 
and  powerful  figure.  Something  more  would  seem 
to  be  implied  in  the  climax  of  this  grand  denun¬ 
ciation,  than  the  ordinary  breaking  of  an  earthen 
vessel.  The  allusion  contained  in  the  first  member 
of  the  verse, 

“  Thou  shalt  shepherd  them  with  a  rod  of  iron,” 

which  I  have  explained  in  a  subsequent  chapter, 
leads  us  to  look  for  another  striking  and  familiar 
image  in  the  second.  That  something  of  a  special 

1  Psalm  ii.  9. 


SHIVERING  TIIE  POTTER’S  VESSEL. 


I  13 

character  is  liere  referred  to  appears  still  more 
frilly  in  the  similar  threatening  in  Isaiah.  The 
passage  is  literally — 

“  And  its  shivering  shall  be  like  the  shivering 
of  the  potter’s  vessel, 

That  is  broken  in  pieces  unsparingly  ; 

So  that  in  its  breaking  in  pieces  there  shall 
not  be  found  a  sherd 
To  snatch  fire  from  the  burning, 

Or  to  take  water  out  of  a  pit.” 1 

Bearing  in  mind  the  size  and  strength  of  many 
potter’s  vessels  in  Palestine,  it  is  plain  that  a  mere 
dashing  out  of  the  hand  upon  the  ground  would 
fail  to  effect  a  “  shivering  ”  anything  like  this.  To 
what  then  do  the  prophets  refer  ? 

The  matter,  I  believe,  admits  of  a  very  clear  and . 
deeply- interesting  explanation.  One  of  the  most 
constant  features  of  the  land  is  the  well  or  beer,2 
which,  as  no  rain  falls  for  six  months  together, 
and  springs  and  streams  are  in  many  parts  com¬ 
paratively  rare,  becomes  an  essential  adjunct  to 
every  house.  In  these  large  underground  structures 
rain-water  is  collected  from  surface  drainage,  and 
stored  for  use  during  the  year.  The  “  Moabite 
stone”  records  an  act,  passed  by  Meslia,  king  of 

1  Isaiah  xxx.  14.  The  word  I  have  translated  “  shivering,” 
shever,  is  identical  in  meaning  with  our  verb,  “  to  shiver,” 
of  which  it  is  plainly  the  origin. 

a  beair ,  now  pronounced  in  Arabic  beer. 

II 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


I  14 

Moab,  so  far  back  as  the  days  of  Jehoshaphat,  king 
of  Judah,  directing  every  man  to  make  a  leer,  or 
rain- cistern,  in  his  dwelling.  The  king  tells  us 
“  there  were  no  wells  (beeroth)  in  the  interior  of 
the  city  in  Qarha ;  and  I  said  to  all  the  people, 
‘  Make  you  every  man  a  well  (beer)  in  his  house.’  ”  1 
But  such  testimony  would  not  be  needed  to  establish 
the  great  age  of  these  huge  artificial  cisterns. 
They  abound  everywhere,  and  many  of  them,  in 
fine  preservation,  mark  the  sites  of  very  ancient 
cities,  where  no  other  structure  remains.  There 
are  no  less  than  thirty  to  be  found  within  the 
precincts  of  the  Temple  area  at  Jerusalem.  Some 
of  these  are  of  vast  size,  built  on  piers,  and  arched 
like  the  crypt  of  a  church.  They  are  specially 
numerous  in  the  fine  olive  grove  to  the  north  of 
the  present  city.  This  spot,  as  I  shall  have  occa¬ 
sion  to  show  in  another  chapter,  must  once  have 
been  enclosed  within  the  walls.  Here  they  are  in 


1  Our  Work  in  Palestine ,  1875,  p.  255.  The  word  beer  is,  in  its 
technical  meaning,  an  underground  rain-water  cistern,  and  must  be 
so  understood  in  most  of  the  passages  where  it  occurs  in  the  Bible. 
A  “  wrell  (beer)  of  springing  or  living  water  ”  is  sometimes  men¬ 
tioned  (Genesis  xxvi.  19,  Canticle  iv.  15).  Such  wells  occur  fre¬ 
quently  in  the  sands  of  the  maritime  plains,  but  are  very  rare  in 
any  part  of  the  mountain  districts.  Several  “  beers  ”  exist  in  Jeru¬ 
salem,  which  receive  rain-water  like  the  rest,  but  are  also  periodi¬ 
cally  replenished  from  below.  About  five  or  six  buckets  full  of 
water  come  in  between  sunrise  and  sunset.  This  is  supplied  by  the 
infiltration  from  the  limestone  in  which  they  are  hewn  out. 


SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL.  I  I  5 

such  a  ruinous  condition,  apparently  from  extreme 
age,  that  they  now  form  a  series  of  dangerous 
pitfalls. 

In  addition  to  these  wells  there  are  many  immense 
artificial  pools,  or  rain-water  reservoirs,  which  are 
often  referred  to  in  the  Bible,  and  of  which  no 
less  than  nine  may  now  be  traced  in  and  around 
Jerusalem  itself.  One  of  these,  the  Birhet 1  (or 
Pool  of)  Mamillct ,  at  the  head  of  the  valley  of  the 
son  of  Hinnom  on  the  south-west  of  the  Holy  Cit}g 
is  291  feet  long  by  192  feet  wide.  Another,  the 
Birhet  es  Sultan,  just  below  the  scarped  fortress  of 
Jehus,  at  the  south-west  angle  of  the  ancient  wall, 
is  510  feet  long  by  210  feet  wide.  The  Birhet 
Yisrael,  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  Pool  of 
Betliesda,  lying  in  a  deep  cutting  along  the  north 
of  the  Temple  area,  has  a  length  of  360  feet,  by  a 
breadth  of  1  3  o  feet,  and  a  depth  of  5  o  feet.  The 
Birhet  Hammdm,  or  Pool  of  the  Bath,  which  is 
situated  at  a  little  distance  within  the  wall  on  the 

1  The  Arabic  birhet  would  appear  the  same  as  the  Hebrew 
jTSlS,  beraihah,  translated  “  pool ;  ”  and  this  word  is  probably 
derived  from  bar  ah,  to  kneel, — the  place  where  the  camels  are 

made  to  kneel  down.  Special  pools,  or  beraihoth ,  are  mentioned  at 
Gibeon  (2  Samuel  ii.  13),  Hebron  (2  Samuel  iv.  12),  and  Samaria 
(r  Kings  xxii.  38),  At  Jerusalem  the  following  pools  are  men¬ 
tioned  :  The  Upper  Pool  (2  Kings  xviii.  17),  the  Lower  Pool  (Isaiah 
xxii.  9),  the  King’s  Pool  (Nehemiah  ii.  14),  the  Pool  of  Siloah,  or 
Siloam  (Nehemiah  iii.  15,  John  ix.  7),  the  Old  Pool  (Isaiali  xxii 
1 1 ),  and  the  Pool  of  Bethesda  (John  v.  2). 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


I  I  6 

west  side  of  the  city,  and  which  is  supplied  by 
an  aqueduct  from  the  Mamilla  Pool,  is  250  feet 
long  by  1 5  o  feet  broad.  In  connection  with  pools 
such  as  these,  and  also  with  many  copious  and 
important  springs,  there  is  throughout  the  country 
an  extensive  system  of  irrigation  by  means  of 
aqueducts,  such  as  I  have  already  described,  some 
of  which  are  still  in  use,  while  many  more  lie  in 
ruins.  Josephus  mentions  an  aqueduct  twenty-five 
miles  long,  made  by  Pontius  Pilate,  the  governor  of 
Judea,  in  order  to  supply  Jerusalem  with  water.1 

To  all  these  cisterns,  reservoirs,  and  aqueducts, 
whether  cut  in  the  rock,  or  built  of  rough  masonry, 
one  thing  is  common.  To  render  them  perfectly 
watertight,  a  peculiar  cement  has  to  be  used.  It 
is  composed  partly  of  lime  and  partly  of  a  large 
admixture  of  what  is  called  in  Arabic  lihommh. 
This  hhomrdh  is  nothing  else  than  broken  pottery 
of  every  description,  ground  down  generally  into 
very  small  pieces,  and  sometimes  into  powder.  The 
cement  thus  made  answers  excellently  the  purpose 
for  which  it  is  employed.  Every  year  it  grows 
harder,  until,  in  the  case  of  those  wells  and  pools 
where  it  is  presumably  many  hundred  years  old,  it 
is  as  firm  as  the  rock  to  which  it  adheres. 

Hhomrali  is  consequently  an  article  of  daily 
commerce  throughout  the  country.  Its  preparation 


1  Antiquities  of  the  Jews ,  book  xviii.  chap.  iii.  sec.  2. 


SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL.  I  I  7 

by  the  peasants  still  remains  the  same  simple  and 
striking  sight  that  must  always  have  been  familiar 
to  the  dwellers  in  every  Judean  town,  but  especially 
to  those  who  lived  within  the  waterless  precincts  of 
Zion — waterless,  that  is,  as  to  natural  supply  from 
springs  or  river.  Zion’s  very  name  records  a  situa¬ 
tion  of  drought.  But  on  the  other  hand,  by  means 
of  its  cisterns  and  reservoirs,  Jerusalem  was  amply 
provided  with  water,  chiefly  drawn  from  the  winter 
rains  collected  in  the  beers  by  surface  drainage 
from  the  flat  roofs  and  terraces  of  the  houses,  and 
brought  there  also  from  distant  fountains,  the  streams 
of  which  were  conducted  to  the  city,  as  we  have 
lately  ascertained,  by  no  less  than  five  large  aque¬ 
ducts.  This  accounts  for  the  fact  that  in  its  various 
sieges,  while  the  foe  without  suffered  from  want  of 
water,  those  within  the  walls  always  had  enough. 
Beautiful  figure  of  the  Church,  dry  and  barren  as 
to  any  natural  advantages,  but  receiving  abundantly 
from  secret  and  directly  heaven- drawn  supplies ! 

The  manufacture  of  hhomrah  may  be  seen  now 
every  autumn  in  “  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom.” 
This  valley  commences  near  the  modern  Jaffa,  or 
Hhulil  Gate,  skirts  the  present  fortress  on  Zion, 
and  then  bending  to  the  east,  and  rapidly  growing 
deeper,  at  the  distance  of  a  few  hundred  feet 
suddenly  narrows.  Here  advantage  has  been  taken 
of  the  natural  formation  to  construct  an  ancient 


I  I  8  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

pool,  that  fills  up  the  whole  width  of  the  rocky 
bed.  It  is  called  on  the  maps  “  the  lower  pool  of 
Gihon.”  The  Arabic  name  is  Birket  es  Sultan ,  “  the 
Sultan’s  Pool.”  It  consists  of  two  or  three  diffe¬ 
rent  levels  formed  by  terraces  of  rock.  Upon  the 
upper  terrace,  on  the  side  adjoining  the  city, 
fellahheen  are  sitting  on  the  ground  in  front  of 
small  brown  and  parti-coloured  heaps.  They  have 
under  their  hands  a  huge  stone,  or  rather  rough 
piece  of  rock  slightly  rounded,  about  a  foot  to  a 
foot  and  a  half  in  diameter,  which  they  push  back¬ 
wards  and  forwards  over  the  materials  of  the  small 
mounds  placed  before  them.  These  mounds  consist 
of  broken  pottery,  which  they  have  purchased  in 
the  city,  or  picked  up  from  the  debris  outside.  Here 
we  may  see  the  whole  of  this  simple  but  very 
effective  process  of  shivering  or  crushing  the 
“  potter’s  vessel.”  The  pieces  heaped  upon  the 
rocky  floor  form  a  motley  mass.  The  greater  part  are 
fragments  of  a  dull  reddish-brown  colour,  the  mark 
of  vessels  of  plebeian  ware,  while  mingling  with 
these  are  rich  glazed  sherds  of  brightest  hues 
and  intricate  design,  gay  vessels  of  the  upper 
classes  —  a  little  world  of  pottery.  There  are 
handles,  mouths,  lips,  spouts,  and  other  parts  of 
work,  that  the  potter  has  “  wrought  on  the  wheels  ;  ” 
broken  “  earthen  bottles  ”  of  every  size  from  the 
jarar  (jar),  three  feet  high,  by  four  in  circumference, 


SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL.  I  I  9 

down  to  the  common  water-bottle  of  the  country. 
The  work  is  done  in  the  following  manner.  The 
labourer  first  “  girds  himself,”  that  is,  fastens  his 
red  leather  belt  firmly  round  his  waist,  and  thrusts 
the  end  of  his  only  garment,  a  kamise,  or  long- 
cotton  shirt,  under  the  belt  so  as  to  be  out  of 
the  way.  Then  he  sits  down  with  his  naked 
legs  wide  apart.  In  the  space  enclosed  between 
them  he  scatters  some  of  the  earthenware  from 
an  adjacent  heap,  and  seizing  the  rough  rounded 
stone  or  crusher,  he  rolls  it  backwards  and  forwards 
over  the  thin  layer  of  pottery  until  every  piece  is 
pounded  and  broken  up.  In  a  short  time  the  whole 
heap  is  reduced  to  tiny  fragments  of  the  required 
size — 

u  The  shivering  of  the  potter’s  vessel, 

That  is  broken  in  pieces  unsparingly,” 

is  accomplished — 

“  So  that  in  its  breaking  in  pieces  there  shall 
not  be  found  a  sherd 
To  snatch  fire  from  the  burning, 

Or  to  take  water  out  of  a  pit.”  1 

There  is  yet  another  remarkable  passage  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  which  gathers  peculiar  meaning  from  these 
facts.  In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  the 
Lord  bids  the  prophet  “  Go  and  get  a  potter’s  nar¬ 
row-necked  bottle,  and  take  of  the  elders  of  the 


1  Isaiah  xxx.  14. 


I  20 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


people,  and  of  the  elders  of  the  priests;  and  go 
forth  into  the  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  which 
is  by  the  entry  of  the  Pottery  Gate.” 1  In  our 
version  it  is  the  “East  Gate,”  but  it  should  be 
rendered  the  “  Potter’s  ”  or  “  Pottery  Gate,”  accord¬ 
ing  to  Jerome  and  others,  and  as  given  by  Gesenius 
in  his  Hebrew  Lexicon .2  Ro  “  East  ”  or  “  Sun  Gate  ” 
would  lead  into  this  valley,  which  lies  to  the  south; 
but  “Pottery  Gate”  in  every  way  agrees  with  the 
context.  The  recent  deeply  interesting  explorations 
of  Mr.  Maudslay,  C.E.,  have  now  laid  bare  the  mag¬ 
nificent  scarped  foundations  of  the  original  wall  of 
Zion,  at  the  south-west  corner  of  the  city,  where  it 
rises  abruptly  from  the  very  foot  of  the  Birket  cs 
Sultan .3  In  following  this  a  little  farther  to  the 
east,  Lieutenant  Conder,  RE.,  says,  “  A  broad  trench 
here  exists,  and  forms  in  all  probability  an  ap¬ 
proach  to  a  gate.”  That  such  is  the  case  is  ren¬ 
dered  the  more  certain  by  the  fact  of  a  branch 

1  Jeremiah  xix.  I,  2.  p-13j53  bakbook,  which  I  have  translated 

‘narrow-necked  bottle,”  is  one  of  those  words  of  frequent  occurrence 

in  Hebrew,  where  the  thing  signified  is  indicated  by  the  sound  it 
makes.  The  ordinary  small  narrow-necked  vessel,  of  one  invari¬ 
able  pattern,  now  used  for  drinking  purposes  by  the  peasantry 
in  every  part  of  Palestine,  makes  just  this  gurgling  sound  {bale- 
book)  when  it  is  being  emptied.  It  is  invariably  a  pottery  vessel, 
of  the  common ,  coarse,  dull-recl  earthenware. 

2  The  word  translated  “East,”  D-ID'Hl  hharsooth,  Gesenius  de¬ 
rives  from  £JHn  hlieres ,  a  potsherd,  and  hence  “the  pottery”  gate. 

3  See  the  sketch  map  of  Jerusalem,  p.  289. 


SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL.  I  2  3 

of  the  ancient  road  leading  to  Bethlehem  turning: 
off  across  the  valley  just  opposite  to  the  supposed 
site  of  the  gate,  which  would  he  otherwise  quite 
unaccountable.  This  entrance  to  the  city  would 
be  close  to  the  spot  I  have  pointed  out  as  that 
where  earthen  vessels  are  crushed,  and  it  is  re¬ 
markable  that  the  heaps  of  rubbish  in  the  valley 
immediately  below  seem  to  consist  in  greater  part 
of  broken  and  very  ancient  pottery.  From  these 
heaps  much  of  the  material  used  for  hhomrali  is 
now  gathered.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  future 
explorations  will  disclose  somewhere  here,  along  the 
face  of  the  lately-discovered  scarped  foundation  of 
the  southern  wall,  the  place  of  a  gate.  If  this 
conjecture  proves  right,  it  will  he  emphatically 
the  “  Pottery  Gate,”  leading  to  the  “  potter’s  field,” 
still  called  Aceldama,  immediately  opposite,  which 
continued  until  recently  to  be  the  burialplace  of 
strangers,  and  which  is  one  of  the  few  spots  in 
the  neighbourhood  where  the  soil  is  of  clay. 

At  this  Pottery  Gate  the  man  of  God  is  com¬ 
manded  to  make  a  proclamation  of  the  terrible 
judgments  that  should  he  sent  upon  the  idolatrous 
city.  “  Then,”  he  is  told,  in  verses  1  o  and  1 1 , 
“  shalt  thou  shiver  the  narrow-necked  bottle  in 
the  sight  of  the  men  that  go  with  thee ;  and  thou 
shalt  say  unto  them,  Thus  saith  J ehovali  of  hosts : 
f  Even  so  will  I  shiver  this  people,  and  this  city, 


124 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


as  one  shivereth  a  potter  s  vessel,  that  cannot  be 
made  whole  again’  ”  To  this  day,  in  and  around 
Jerusalem,  there  is  but  one  spot  where  the  work 
of  preparing  hhomrah,  or  crushed  pottery,  is  com¬ 
monly  carried  on,  and  that  is  where  I  have  de¬ 
scribed  it  on  the  northern  ledge  or  margin  of  the 
pool  in  this  same  “  valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnomf  hard 
by  the  site  of  the  supposed  Pottery  Gate  !  To  find  the 
industry  again  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city  it 
is  necessary  to  cross  the  ncthhal,  or  torrent  valley,  of 
Kidron,  and  visit  the  threshing-floor  at  the  summit 
of  Olivet,  where  it  is  also  sometimes  to  be  seen.  In 
the  East,  every  trade  and  manufacture  has  its  own 
peculiar  street  or  locality,  to  which  it  is  principally 
confined.  These  localities  are,  like  everything  else 
Oriental,  stereotyped  by  a  spirit  which  abhors  any 
kind  of  change.  On  the  face  of  it,  therefore,  there 
is  every  probability  thatwhere  the  manufacture  of 
hhomrah,  the  shivering  of  pottery,  took  place  in  the 
days  of  Jeremiah,  it  would  he  found  to-day. 

What  a  striking  scene  then  is  here  presented ! 
The  prophet,  surrounded  by  some  of  the  principal 
men  of  the  city,  passes  down  to  the  spot  where 
the  peasants  are  sitting  at  their  humble  employ. 
In  his  hand  he  bears  the  common  water-bottle  of 
the  country.  Arrived  at  the  valley  of  Hinnom, 
before  the  wondering  crowd  that  has  followed,  the 
man  of  God  dashes  the  small  earthen  pitcher  upon 


SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL.  I  2  5 

the  rocky  floor,  and  now,  girding  himself  like  the 
other  workmen,  and  seating  himself  upon  the 
ground,  rolls  over  it  repeatedly  a  huge  stone,  “as 
one  shivereth  a  potter’s  vessel  that  cannot  be  made 
whole  again,”  that  is,  grinding  it  with  ease  in  a 
few  moments  into  minute  fragments.  Then  came 
the  solemn  words,  “  Thus  saith  J ehovah  of  hosts : 
c  Even  so  will  I  shiver  this  people,  and  this  city.’  ” 
Significant,  never-to-be-forgotten  picture  of  the  ter¬ 
rible  judgment  of  God  ! 

When  Nebuchadnezzar  saw  in  a  vision  a  glimpse 
of  the  history  of  Gentile  nations  until  the  final 
consummation  of  Messiah’s  kingdom,  he  beheld  the 
destruction  of  these  world-powers  represented  ap¬ 
parently  under  the  very  figure  we  have  been  con¬ 
sidering  ;  for  he  saw  “  till  that  a  stone  vms  cut 
out ,  without  hands,”  that  is,  a  natural  rough  stone, 
“  which  smote  the  image  upon  its  feet  of  iron  and 
clay  (that  is,  baked  clay,  or  earthenware),  and  broke 
them  to  pieces ;  ”  even  grinding  them  to  powder, 
till  they  “  became  like  chaff  from  the  summer 
threshing-floors;  and  the  wind  carried  them  away.”1 
There  are,  it  should  be  noted,  two  kinds  of  hhom- 
rah,  or  crushed  pottery,  which  are  usually  prepared. 
The  one  called  “  thick  hhomrah  ”  consists  of  little 
pieces  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  square.  The 
other  called  “  thin  hhomrah ,”  used  principally 


1  Daniel  ii.  34,  35. 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


I  2  6 

for  making  the  roofs  and  walls  of  houses  water- 
tight,  is  ground  into  a  fine  dust.  The  striking  allu¬ 
sion  in  Daniel  is  plainly  to  the  preparation  of  the 
latter. 

It  would  seem  that  our  Blessed  Saviour  has 
referred  to  the  same  subject.  When  commenting 
apparently  upon  the  words  of  the  2d  Psalm — 

“  Thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter’s  vessel,” 

He  speaks  of  Himself  first  as  the  chosen  corner¬ 
stone,  which  unbelievers,  by  rejecting,  may  be  said 
to  stumble  over ;  and  then,  by  a  quick  but  natural 
transition  to  a  different  but  kindred  figure,  He  tells 
us  of  another  aspect  of  His  work.  With  respect  to 
those  who  at  any  time  oppose  His  kingdom,  He 
says,  “Every  one  that  falls  upon  that  stone  shall 
be  broken ;  ”  and  with  regard  to  the  finally  im¬ 
penitent,  who  are  to  be  “dashed  in  pieces  like  a 
potter’s  vessel,”  He  declares,  with  awful  signifi¬ 
cance,  in  view  of  our  subject,  “  But  on  whomsoever 
it  shall  fall,  it  will  scatter  him  as  the  dust,”  that 
is,  “  grind  him  to  powder.”  1 

We  do  well  to  ponder  this  view  of  the  Saviour’s 
Advent.  “  Knowing  therefore  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,”  says  the  Apostle  Paul,  “  we  persuade  men.”  2 
The  coming  of  Christ  has  two  aspects.  One, 
infinitely  happy,  is  the  relief,  comfort,  and  glory 

1  Luke  xx.  18.  2  2  Corinthians  v.  n. 


SHIVERING  THE  POTTER’S  VESSEL. 


I  27 

of  His  people.  They,  at  the  first  stage  of  His 
second  coming,  both  the  living  and  the  dead,  will 
be  “  caught  up  to  meet  him  ”  when  He  comes  into 
“  the  air,”  thenceforth  to  be  for  ever  with  Him. 1 
The  other,  unspeakably  terrible,  is  the  destruction 
of  an  ungodly  world.  This  will  assuredly  take 
place  at  His  “  manifestation,”  or  “  revelation,”  the 
second  stage  of  His  second  coming,  when,  accom¬ 
panied  by  all  His  risen  and  translated  saints,  He 
will  again  descend  to  earth.  Then  He  will  come 
“  with  the  clouds  (that  is,  with  startling  majesty) ; 
and  every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  that  pierced 
him  (the  Jews — Zeclrariali  xii.  10):  and  all  the  tribes 
of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him.  Even  so, 
Amen.” 2  Then  shall  be  “  the  revelation  of  the 

1  1  Thessalonians  iv.  13-18  ;  Revelation  xx.  4,  5,  6.  Three  times 
in  His  deep  discourse,  given  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John’s  Gospel, 
Christ  promises  resurrection  to  the  believer,  saying  with  significant 
iteration,  “  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day  ”  (John  vi.  40,  44,  54  ; 
see  also  verse  3<p.  Now,  seeing  that  all  men  are  to  rise  again  with 
their  bodies,  unless  it  was  some  special  privilege,  in  a  word,  “  the 
first  resurrection,”  this  special  promise  would  have  no  meaning. 
The  Apostle  Paul,  like  all  the  early  Christians,  fully  understood 
“the  blessed  hope”  (Titus  ii.  13)  contained  in  these  words  of  the 
Saviour,  and  regarded  it  as  the  chief  prize  of  the  Christian  calling, 
for  he  tells  us  it  was  the  expectation  of  this  that  nerved  him  for  all 
his  sufferings  and  labours  :  “Yea  verily,  and  I  count  all  things  to 
be  loss  ...  if  by  any  means  I  may  attain  unto  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead  ”  (Philippians  iii.  8-1 1). 

2  Revelation  i  7.  The  Revised  Version  of  the  New  Testament 
has  “shall  wail  over  him.”  This  seems  an  unsatisfactory  rendering 
of  Kbfovrou  'or'  avrov ,  Tcopsontai  cp  auton.  People  in  the  East  only 


128 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Lord  Jesus  from  heaven  with  his  powerful  angels  in 
flaming  fire,  rendering  vengeance  to  them  that  know 
not  God,  and  to  them  that  obey  not  the  gospel 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  :  who  shall  suffer  punishment, 
[even]  eternal  destruction  from  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  and  from  his  mighty  glory.” 1  The  com¬ 
passionate  warnings  of  the  Bible  are  full  of  the 
latter  aspect  of  the  Second  Advent.  In  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  there  are  no  less  than  forty  words  which 
signify  “to  destroy.”  It  were  to  he  wished  that 
the  preaching  of  our  day,  especially  that  addressed 
to  the  careless,  had  caught  more  of  the  tones  of 
Scripture  on  this  solemn  subject.  With  a  laudable 
desire  to  set  forth  the  love  of  God  in  all  its  rich 
fulness,  there  is  a  tendency  to  overlook  His  holi¬ 
ness.  Much  is  made  of  mercy,  hut  justice  and 
judgment  are  often  lightly  passed  over.  Hot  so 
with  the  preachers  of  the  Bible.  Erom  Enoch,  the 
seventh  from  Adam,  to  John,  the  last  of  the  pro¬ 
phets,  they  unite  with  one  voice  in  loud  and  solemn 
warnings  to  the  unconverted,  and  choose  the  most 
powerful  figures  to  picture  the  ruin  of  those  who 
continue  to  resist  the  grace  of  God. 

“  wail  over  ”  a  dead  bod}7.  The  preposition  ctI,  epi,  means  often 
“because  of,”  sometimes  “before  ”  or  “in  the  presence  of,”  and  at 
others  “in  respect  to,”  “concerning,”  or  on  “account  of,”  any  of 
which  would  be  more  correct  here  than  “  over.”  When  the  verb 
kotttoj,  Icopto ,  means  to  “wail  over,”  the  particle  eirl,  epi,  is  not  used 
(Luke  viii.  52  ;  xxiii.  27). 

1  2  Thessalonians  i.  7-9. 


(  129  ) 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  NIGHT-MIST. 

“I  will  be  as  the  night-mist  unto  Israel.” 

— Hosea  xiv.  5. 

The  wise  man,  speaking  of  the  inestimable  blessing 
of  moisture  in  a  hot  land,  and  tracing  it  to  its  two 
principal  sources,  namely,  the  storehouses  of  deep 
subterranean  caverns  from  which  springs  and  rivers 
flow,  and  the  storehouses  above  of  dense,  vapoury 
clouds,  says  of  Jehovah,  as  it  is  in  our  version — 

“  By  his  knowledge  the  depths  are  broken  up, 

And  the  clouds  drop  down  the  dew.” 1 


1  Proverbs  iii.  20.  The  word  “  clouds  ”  here,  D'jpn^,  sheh- 
liakeem ,  some  would  render  “sky,”  but  in  most  passages  where  it 
occurs  in  the  plural,  if  not  in  all,  it  undoubtedly  means  “  clouds.” 
Where  the  rendering  “  sky  ”  is  absolutely  required,  as  distinguished 
from  clouds,  which  is  only  twice,  it  occurs  in  each  instance  in  the 
singular.  Both  the  passages  are  in  Psalm  lxxxix.  The  first  is  in 
the  question  of  verse  6 — 

“  Who  in  the  sky  shahhak)  shall  be  compared  unto  Jehovah?” 

The  second  is  found  in  verse  37,  where  it  is  said  of  the  throne  of 
David — 

“  It  shall  be  established  for  ever  as  the  moon, 

And  as  the  faithful  witness  in  the  sky  (shahhak).” 

I 


130 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Here  there  seems  plainly  a  mistake;  arid  not 
only  captions  objectors,  but  even  earnest  critics, 
have  found  an  insuperable  difficulty.  That  “the 
clouds  ”  should  “  drop  down  the  dew  ”  is  contrary 
to  all  experience  in  this  land,  or  in  the  neighbour¬ 
ing  regions  of  Europe.  On  a  cloudy  night  no  dew 
ever  falls.  The  diamond  drops  are  only  deposited 
during  clear  and  absolutely  unclouded  weather. 
The  reason  of  this  is  well  ascertained.  Dew  is 
the  moisture  held  during  day  by  the  air  whilst 
it  is  warm.  If-  the  air  is  rendered  cooler,  it  is 
compelled  to  drop  some  of  this  moisture.  When 
the  upper  part  of  the  air  is  cooled,  the  water  falls 
in  rain;  when  the  lower  part  of  the  air  is  cooled, 

In  Job  xxxvii.  21,  sliehhalceem  must  mean  clouds,  and  not  the  clear 
expanse  of  sky. 

“And  now  men  see  not  the  light  which  is  shining  in  the  clouds  ( shehhaJceem ), 
But  the  wind  passeth  and  cleareth  them.” 

Here  the  idea  is  that  of  the  sun’s  shining  in,  that  is,  amongst  and 
behind,  the  clouds,  unseen  by  men  till  the  wind  comes,  and,  by 
driving  away  the  cloudy  veil,  reveals  its  light.  The  same  render¬ 
ing  is  required  by  the  question  in  Job  xxxviii.  37 — 

“  Who  numbereth  the  clouds  (shehhaJceem)  by  wisdom?” 

Out  of  the  eighteen  times  that  this  word  occurs  in  the  plural,  it  is 
used  no  less  than  fifteen  times  together  with  shamayeem. 

But  shamayeem  is  undoubtedly  the  Hebrew  technical  expression  for 
the  sky,  or  firmamental  heavens,  and  hence  shehhaJceem  must  have 
a  different  meaning.  The  derivation  of  the  word  shahhalc  is  plainly 
from  the  root  shahhalc,  “to  pulverise,”  “to  grind  to  powder,” 

“to  make  into  dust  ”  (2  Samuel  xxii.  43  ;  Psalm  xviii.  42),  and  the 
connection  between  dust  and  light  clouds  is  obvious.  The  word 
shahhalc  in  the  singular  is  used  in  Arabic  for  “thin  cloud.” 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


1 3 1 

the  water  gently  forms  as  dew.  At  night,  if  the 
air  is  clear  and  cloudless,  and  only  in  that  case, 
the  earth  cools  quickly.  When,  in  consequence 
of  this,  the  surface  of  the  ground  becomes  colder 
than  the  air,  the  latter  parts  with  its  moisture, 
which  distils  on  flower,  leaf,  and  land  in  sparkling 
drops  of  dew.  If  a  cloth  is  laid  over  a  bush, 
which  keeps  it  warmer  by  preventing  the  escape 
of  its  heat,  though  all  around  is  bright  with 
moisture,  none  will  be  found  on  the  covered  bush. 
Just  in  the  same  way,  when  clouds  are  spread 
over  the  earth,  they  hinder  its  heat  from  escaping, 
the  air  is  not  cooled,  and  dew  is  not  formed.  These 
are  in  the  West  such  well-known  facts,  that  even 
reverent  men  of  science  have  felt  at  a  loss  to  find 
any  explanation  whatever  for  the  inspired  state¬ 
ment — 

“  The  clouds  drop  down  the  1  dew.5  55 

And  yet  Solomon  is  literally  and  absolutely 
right  in  the  positive  statement  which  he  really 
makes.  That  the  word  rendered  “  dew  ”  in  our 
Bible  stands  for  something  far  more  refreshing  and 
valuable  than  the  richest  dew,  may  be  gathered 
from  a  glance  at  its  figurative  use  in  the  Bible. 
Speaking  of  the  boundless  power  of  an  absolute 
Eastern  monarch  to  help  his  friends,  we  read — 

“  His  favour  is  as  ‘  dew  ’  upon  the  grass.5’1 


1  Proverbs  xix.  12.  In  this  and  the  following  eight  quotations,  I 


PALESTINE  EXPLOEED. 


TOO 
1  0  ^ 

God  Himself,  the  King  of  kings,  speaking  of  the 
final  and  consummate  blessedness  of  His  ancient 
people,  holds  out  this  as  the  promise  which  in¬ 
cludes  it  all — 

“ I  will  be  as  the  1  dew5  unto  Israel.55 1 

Dying  Jacob  desired  this  blessing  for  his  best- 
beloved  son. 

“  God  give  thee  from  the  ‘  dew 5  of  heaven 55  2 

stands  first,  as  the  sum  and  chief  of  temporal  good. 
David,  in  anguish  of  soul  at  the  loss  of  Jonathan, 
could  utter  no  more  terrible  curse  upon  that  fatal 
spot  where  his  friend  fell  than  this — 

“Ye  mountains  in  Gilboa  ! 

No  ‘  dew,5  and  no  rain  be  upon  you, 

Nor  fields  of  offerings  ! 55  3 

It  is  said  of  saved  Israel’s  mighty  influence  for 
good  during  the  millennium — 

“  And  the  remnant  of  Jacob  shall  be, 

In  the  midst  of  many  peoples, 

As  ‘  dew 5  from  Jehovah.55  4 

Many  other  such  passages  occur,  and  all  seem 

retain  the  word  “  dew,”  putting  it  in  inverted  commas,  not  because 
it  is  correct,  but  in  order  that  the  reader  may  the  better  recall  the 
familiar  passages. 

1  Hosea  xiv.  5.  2  Genesis  xxvii.  28. 

2  2  Samuel  i.  21.  4  Micah  v.  7. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


to  indicate  an  excellence,  which,  useful  and  refresh¬ 
ing  as  the  dew  is,  it  certainly  does  not  possess 
here,  even  in  the  driest  seasons.  I  will  now  show 
in  what  this  remarkable  excellence  consists,  namely, 
in  the  very  fact  which  seems  so  incredible  to  us, 
that  in  Palestine 

11  The  clouds  drop  down  the  c  dew/  55 

First  let  me  say  that  in  the  winter,  during  fine 
weather,  dew  is  deposited,  as  in  other  countries,  by 
the  cooling  of  the  surface  of  the  ground  on  cloudless 
nights.  But,  inasmuch  as  winter  is  the  one  period 
of  the  year  when  much  rain  falls  in  tropical  torrents, 
ordinary  dew,  which  chiefly  forms  at  such  time,  is, 
comparatively  speaking,  entirely  valueless.  This, 
therefore,  cannot  be  that  peculiar  and  inestimable 
blessing  so  often  referred  to  by  the  inspired  penmen. 
The  principal  season  when  a  provision  of  the  nature 
of  dew  is  needed  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  when  it  is  so 
abundantly  given,  is  in  summer  and  autumn.  Then 
six  consecutive  months  of  drought  occur  regularly, 
even  under  the  most  favourable  circumstances.  From 
about  the  first  week  in  May  to  the  middle  of 
October,  in  the  usual  course,  no  drop  of  rain 
falls,  and  throughout  the  twelve  hours  of  each 
day  the  sun  shines  with  great  strength,  unveiled 
by  a  single  cloud.  In  autumn  the  thermometer 
has  been  known  to  register  1 1 8°  Fahrenheit  in 


134 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


the  shade  on  the  hot  plains.  Although  the  tem¬ 
perature  is  seldom  as  high  as  this,  yet,  during 
the  whole  period  from  May  to  October,  the  power 
of  the  sun,  so  often  alluded  to  in  the  Bible,  is  very 
great,  and  but  for  the  extremely  dry,  salubrious, 
and  exhilarating  air,  would  prove  very  exhausting. 
As  it  is,  no  Eastern  cares  to  encounter  its  rays 
at  noon.  The  heat  and  drought  are  also  greatly 
intensified  at  intervals  during  the  months  of  May 
and  October  by  the  shirocco,  the  burning  East 
wind,  so  often  alluded  to  in  Scripture.1 

In  consequence  of  the  continuous  rainless  heat, 
vegetation  becomes  much  parched,  and  would  be 
altogether  scorched  from  the  face  of  the  earth  but 
for  the  following  beautiful  provision.  At  such  time, 
and  more  especially  towards  its  close,  in  the  latter 
part  of  August  and  during  September  and  October, 
the  prevalent  westerly  winds  bring  an  immense 
quantity  of  moisture  from  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 
The  watery  element,  with  which  they  are  charged, 
becomes  condensed  when  it  meets  the  cold  night 
air  upon  the  land;  for  it  is  a  great  peculiarity 
of  Syria  that  the  nights  are  often  as  cold  as  the 
days  are  hot,  a  fact  which  I  have  painfully  ex¬ 
perienced  during  many  a  long  journey,  and  which 
Jacob  lamented  three  thousand  six  hundred  years 

1  Genesis  xlvi.  6  ;  Jeremiah  xviii.  17  ;  Ezekiel  xvii.  10 ;  xix.  12  ; 
Hosea  xiii.  15. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


135 

ago.1  This  condensation,  or  cloud- forming,  happens 
more  especially  when  the  damp  winds  reach  the 
hills,  over  the  surface  of  which  their  liberated 
moisture  rolls  in  masses  of  dense  mist,  which 
leave  everywhere  in  their  progress  an  immense 
amount  of  that  which  answers  to  the  “  dew  ”  of  the 
Bible.  In  the  strict  scientific  sense  of  the  word, 
this  is  rain,  and  not  dew  at  all  in  our  meaning  of 
the  word,  since  the  vapour  becomes  condensed  in 
the  air  before  touching  the  ground.  It  answers 
somewhat  to  the  lightest  form  of  Scotch  mist,  but 
then  it  must  be  remembered  that  this  mist  in 
Palestine  never  occurs  in  the  daytime,  but  only 
forms  during  the  night,  when  by  radiation  the 
earth  has  thrown  off  its  heat,  and  the  cool  air 
above  it  condenses  the  moisture  borne  by  the 
breezes  from  the  sea.  Prom  its  coming  only 
during  the  hours  of  night,  from  its  not  falling  like 
other  rain  from  the  upper  air,  but  forming  not  far 
above  the  surface  of  the  ground,  from  its  separation 
into  very  fine  particles  and  not  appearing  to  fall  in 
drops,  from  the  general  appearance  it  leaves  behind, 
and  from  its  effects  ceasing  to  be  seen  when  the 
sun  grows  hot,  it  was  rightly  held  to  differ  so  much 
from  the  nature  of  ordinary  rain  as  to  require  to  be 
distinguished  by  a  special  technical  term,  tal,  which, 

1  “  Thus  I  was  ;  in  the  day  the  drought  consumed  me,  and  the 
cold  by  night  ”  (Genesis  xxxi.  40). 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


136 

fortunately  for  the  English  reader,  our  translators 
have  uniformly  rendered  in  each  instance  by  the 
word  “  dew.”  1 

Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  whenever  we  read 
of  “  dew  ”  in  our  Bible,  we  must  not  understand 
such  dew  as  we  have  here  at  all,  but  a  copious  mist 
shedding  small  invisible  rain,  that  comes  in  rich 
abundance  every  night  about  twelve  o’clock  p.m.  in 
the  hot  weather  when  west  or  north-west  winds 
blow,  and  which  brings  intense  refreshment  to  all 

1  This  Hebrew  word  tal,  which  occurs  thirty-five  times  in  the 
Old  Testament,  is  undoubtedly  derived  from  talal,  “  to  cover 

over  [as  a  roof]”  (Nehemiah  iii.  15),  of  which  there  is  a  Chaldee 
form,  telal,  “  to  shadow  ”  (Daniel  iv.  9).  The  meaning  of 

these  is  confirmed  by  the  Arabic  talla,  “to  cover,”  “to  shade,”  “to 
be  a  shady  day.”  All  three  roots  convey  the  same  idea,  which  is 
incompatible  with  that  of  dew  in  the  scientific  sense  of  the  term, 
distilling  as  it  does  invisibly,  but  is  exactly  in  keeping  with  those 
covering,  shady  clouds  which  drop  down  in  their  passage  the  “  dew” 
of  Scripture.  It  is  very  interesting  to  observe  that  the  Greek 
bporxos,  clrosos,  and  the  Latin  ros,  both  of  which  have  been  hitherto 
rendered  “  dew,”  in  their  ordinary  and  poetical  use  would  seem  to 
have  precisely  the  same  signification  as  the  Hebrew  tal ,  seeing  that 
the  climates  of  Greece  and  Southern  Italy  are  similar  to  that  of 
Palestine,  and  that  they  have  each  the  Mediterranean  Sea  on  the 
west.  There  are  two  adjectives  formed  from  the  Greek  word 
dpoaos  —  dpoffoeipxov,  drosoeimon,  and  opoaepos,  droseros  —  meaning 
respectively  “  dew-clad  ”  and  “  dewy,”  both  of  which  are  used  of 
clouds,  vecpekcu ,  neplielai  (Aristophanes,  Nub.  338  ;  Orphica,  H. 
20,  6).  This  word  nephelai,  from  which  comes  through  the  Latin 
our  word  nebulous,  means  “  cloud  masses,”  and  occurs  in  the  sense 
of  “  light  fleecy  clouds,”  the  very  “  dew  ”  clouds  I  have  described. 
We  meet  in  the  Ilippolytus  Coronifer  of  Euripides  with  the  ex- 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


137 


organised  life.  Thus  the  mention  of  “  dew  ”  in  any 
narrative  passage,  such  as  that  of  the  miracle 
granted  to  Gideon,1  will  always  enable  us  to  identify 
the  time  of  year  as  that  of  the  hot  season,  more 
especially  towards  its  close. 

Often,  when  on  autumn  mornings  I  have  risen 
before  sunrise  from  my  tent  on  the  heights  to  the 
west  of  Jerusalem,  and  ridden  into  the  Holy  City 
to  conduct  our  early  Hebrew  morning  service  on 
Mount  Zion,  I  have  reined  up  my  horse  to  gaze  on 

pressions  opocros  Kprjvcua,  drosos  krenaia,  “dew  from  a  fountain,” 
and  irorapua  opocrw,  potamia  droso,  “  with  dew  from  a  river,”  where 
evidently  no  scientific  dew  can  be  meant,  but  a  mist,  rising  in  the 
one  case  from  a  spring,  and  in  the  other  from  a  stream.  But  the 
words  dpocros  OaXaacria,  drosos  thalassia,  “  dew  from  the  sea,”  which 
also  occurs  in  the  same  play,  are  a  still  more  unmistakable  example 
of  this  use,  and  seem  to  describe  the  very  Mediterranean  clouds  of 
night-mist  such  as  form  the  “  dew  ”  of  Palestine.  The  fact  that 
Aristotle  in  his  Meteorologia  (lib.  i.  cap.  x.),  and  in  his  De  Mundo 
(cap.  iii.)  speaks  of  dew  in  its  strict  scientific  sense,  in  no  way 
affects  the  question  of  the  ordinary  popular  and  poetic  use  of  the 
term.  There  is  less  reason  to  examine  the  meaning  of  the  Latin 
ros,  as  it  is  evidently  the  same  as  the  Greek  dpoaos.  The  name  of 
rosemary,  however,  a  herb  which  flourishes  upon  the  mountains 
around  the  sea-board  of  the  Mediterranean,  ros  marinus,  “  the  sea- 
dew,”  given  because  this  fragrant  plant  requires  much  moisture,  is 
a  remarkable  proof,  if  words  mean  anything,  that  the  Latin  ros  was 
applied  to  the  night-mist  borne  by  the  breezes  from  the  Great  Sea 
westward.  Rosemary,  like  many  of  the  other  familiar  members  of 
the  sweet  and  wholesome  labiatce  family,  such  as  mint,  peppermint, 
lavender,  majoram,  sage,  and  thyme,  flourishes  luxuriantly  upon 
the  mountains  of  Western  Palestine,  where  it  enjoys  so  richly  those 
copious  “  dews  ”  from  the  sea,  which  gave  its  Latin  name. 

1  Judges  vi.  36-40. 


133 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


a  sight  of  wondrous  beauty.  Very  vividly  it  stands 
before  me  now.  Billowy  masses  of  silvery  white 
or  opaline  clouds  roll  below  in  fantastic,  ever- 
changing  forms,  from  which  the  summits  of  the 
mountains  now  stand  out  like  rocky  islands  on  a 
wide  chain  of  picturesque  lakes,  and  now  seem  like 
the  low  foot  -  hills  of  mighty  snow  -  clad  ranges 
towering  behind  them  to  the  sky.  The  scene  shifts 
rapidly,  as  the  dense  masses  of  vapour,  glistening 
with  all  the  exquisite  brightness  of  Syrian  light, 
wave  hither  and  thither,  or  are  sucked  up  by  the 
rising  sun,  leaving  behind  them  on  the  ground  for 
a  few  hours  a  delightful  moisture.1  I  did  not  then 
realise,  as  I  do  now,  that  I  was  gazing  upon 
what  Isaiah  calls  “  a  cloud  of  ‘  dew,’  ”  as  it  is 
literally — 

<£  A  thick  ‘  clew  ’-cloud  in  the  heat  of  harvest.” 2 

-A* 

The  peculiar  features-  of  this  rich  provision  of 
nature,  by  which  it  differs  from  and  greatly  excels 

1  It  was  to  these  fugitive  clouds  that  Hosea  compared  Israel’s 
brief  and  transient  seasons  of  repentance — 

“  Your  goodness  is  like  the  morning  cloud. 

And  like  the  ‘  dew  ’  which  early  goeth  away.” 

(Ilosea  vi.  4). 

2  Isaiah  xviii.  4.  This  deiv  ’’-cloud  is  evidently  distinguished  from 
a  ram-cloud,  which  latter  is  never  known  “  in  the  heat  of  harvest.” 
The  word  used  here  for  cloud  ay,  av,  is  eight  times  rightly  ren¬ 
dered  “  thick  clouds  ”  in  our  version. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


139 


any  kind  of  dew,  and  comes  to  be  of  such  very 
great  value,  are  threefold.  First,  its  falling  only 
in  the  hottest  and  driest  season,  when  no  other 
moisture  is  to  be  had.  Secondly,  its  coming  every 
night  during  such  season  when  west  winds  blow, 
which  they  do  with  great  regularity  at  this  time 
of  the  year.  Thirdly,  its  falling  so  copiously  as 
to  supply  all  the  moisture  needed  for  vegetation 
generally.  The  water  these  low  clouds  deposit  is 
perfectly  sufficient  to  ripen  the  summer  crops,  to 
keep  life  in  the  pastures  of  the  desert,  to  nourish 
the  fig,  fatten  the  berry  of  the  olive,  and  give  to 
the  grape  its  fulness  of  luscious  juice — in  a  word,  to 
revive  and  sustain  all  hardy  forms  of  vegetable  life. 

The  abundance  of  moisture  deposited  by  this 
“  dew,”  far  exceeding  that  which  could  possibly 
come  from  any  dew  properly  so-called,  makes  the 
sign  given  to  Gideon,  though  not  a  whit  the  less 
miraculous,  still  far  more  natural  than  if  dew 
such  as  we  experience  was  intended.  That  Jerub- 
baal  should  be  able  to  wring  “  the  ‘  dew  ’  out  of 
the  fleece,  a  bowl  full  of  water,”  is  perfectly  in 
accordance  with  the  plentiful  way  in  which  this 
“  dew  ”  of  the  Bible  still  falls.1  What  intensity  of 
pathos,  too,  is  thus  added  to  the  Saviour’s  words 
of  tender  reproach,  when  He  graciously  represents 
Himself  as  waiting  through  the  night  of  sin  and 

1  Judges  vi.  38. 


140 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


backsliding  without  the  portals  of  His  faithless 
Church,  saying — 

“  Open  to  me, 

•  •  •  •  •  • 

For  my  lieacl  is  filled  with  (  dew/ 

And  my  locks  with  the  drops  of  the  night !  ” 1 

The  exposure  to  these  dense  chilly  clouds  of  mist 
is  a  far  more  painful  ordeal  than  to  be  kept  out  of 
doors  on  a  dewy  night  when  the  weather  is  invari¬ 
ably  dry  and  still. 

Bearing  in  mind  this  meaning  of  “  dew  ”  will 
account  for  its  being  constantly  associated  in  Scrip¬ 
ture  with  rain ;  for  it  is  indeed  a  fine  shower,  or 
rather  night-mist,  beginning  to  fall  generally  about 
midnight,  and  supplying  the  place  of  our  summer 
rain,  but  without  any  of  the  inconvenience  at¬ 
tending  the  latter.  Although  so  much  moisture  is 
deposited  as  sometimes  to  soak  through  the  thick 
canvas  of  a  tent,  and  to  leave  the  appearance  on 
the  ground  of  a  gentle  shower,  yet,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  is  not  enough  to  injure  the  gathered  grain 
crops  which  lie  on  the  open-air  threshing-floors 
during  the  season  of  “  dew.”  In  further  quotations 
I  will  call  it  by  its  true  description,  “  the  night- 
mist.”  In  the  grand  prophetic  Song  of  Moses, 
we  meet  amongst  its  opening  strains  with  the  fol¬ 
lowing  liighly-poetic  passage,  the  force  and  beauty 
of  which  can  be  but  little  known  to  the  ordinary 


1  Canticles  v.  2. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


14  I 

English  reader  as  he  finds  the  translation  in  our 
version — 

u  My  doctrine  shall  gush  out  as  the  rain-shower, 

My  speech  shall  flow  as  the  night-mist  (tal), 

As  the  soft  fall  upon  the  fresh- springing  grass, 

As  the  heavy,  copious  showers  upon  the  herbage.” 1 

1  Deuteronomy  xxxii.  2.  In  our  version  it  reads — 

“  My  doctrine  shall  drop  as  the  rain, 

My  speech  shall  distil  as  the  dew. 

As  the  small  rain  upon  the  tender  herb, 

And  as  the  showers  upon  the  grass.” 

The  Hebrew  word  rendered  “  distil  ”  in  the  second  line,  to.  nazal , 

"*  T?  7 

in  every  other  passage  requires  the  meaning  of  “to  flow,”  “to  pour 
out,”  and  that  in  a  moderate  and  gentle  manner.  Hence  it  is 
applied  to  the  flowing  out  of  spice  odours  (Canticles  iv.  16) ;  the 
pouring  out  of  tears  (Jeremiah  ix.  18);  and  the  flowing  out  of 
waters  from  melted  snow  and  ice  when  warm  winds  begin  to  blow 
(Psalm  cxlvii.  18).  In  the  parallelism  of  this  verse,  the  third  line 
evidently  repeats  the  idea  of  the  second,  and  the  fourth  that  of  the 
first.  The  word  “  small  rain,”  which  I  have  rendered  “  soft  fall,” 
Dnw?  se'eereem,  only  occurs  once,  and  comes  from  a  word 
-iw?  sa’eer,  which  has  the  signification  of  “hairy,”  as  of  a  goat, 
hence  “silken,”  “fleecy,”  or  “soft.”  This  is  a  very  apt  expression 
for  the  flow  of  the  soft  tiny  rain-drops  deposited  by  the  fleecy 
clouds  of  night-mist.  In  the  first  line  the  word  for  rain  is 
matar,  which  is  the  present  Arabic  colloqxiial  term  for  the  ordinary 
semi-tropical  winter  showers.  The  verb  I  have  translated  “gush 
out  ”  in  this  same  line  evidently  means  a  heavy  or  gushing  down¬ 
pour.  It  is  derived  from  the  root  ’ araph ,  used  in  every  in¬ 

stance  but  one  with  the  technical  sense  of  “to  cut  the  throat,” 
and  hence  has  the  idea  of  the  gush  of  blood  from  the  severed 
artery,  a  fine  illustration  of  the  strange  and  highly-figurative 
origin  of  many  Hebrew  words.  The  term  “showers,” 
r&veeveem,  in  the  fourth  line,  is  plainly  derived  from  the  root  Dl1! 


142 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


In  his  sad  lament  for  Saul  and  Jonathan,  David 
cries- — 

“Ye  mountains  in  Gilboa  ! 

No  night-mist  and  no  rain  be  upon  you.”1 

Job  asks — 

“  Hath  the  rain  a  father  % 

Or  who  begetteth  the  drops  of  night-mist  %  ” 2 

Again,  when  Elijah  the  Tishbite  made  his  sudden 
appearance  in  Israel,  denouncing  judgment,  he  swore 
by  Jehovah,  “  there  shall  not  be  night-mist  or  rain 
these  years  but  according  to  my  word.” 3  In  these 
four  last  passages  “night-mist  and  rain”  possess  a 
more  intimate  and  natural  connection  than  “dew 

ravav,  “to  be  many  or  numerous,”  and  2^  rav,  “great  or  large,” 
and  should  be  rendered  “heavy  copious  showers,”  referring  most 
appropriately  to  the  matar,  or  ordinary  deluging  rain  of  winter, 
in  the  first  line.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that,  as  Moses’ 
first  words  of  promise  in  this  beautiful  prophetic  song  speak  of  a 
gushing  downpour  of  rain  (Deuteronomy  xxxii.  2),  exceedingly  pre¬ 
cious  in  the  East,  so  almost  his  last  words,  in  the  “blessing”  which 
follows  (Deuteronomy  xxxiii.  28),  speak  of  the  scarcely  less  esti¬ 
mable  benefit  afforded  by  abundant  falls  of  night-mist  during  the 
hot  season — 

“Also  the  heavens  shall  gush  out  night-mist.” 

Here  the  word  I  have  translated  “  gush  out,”  ’ araph ,  is  that  same 
exceedingly  expressive  and  graphic  term  used  for  the  violent  down¬ 
pour  of  winter  rains,  explained  above.  It  is  in  this  instance  evi¬ 
dently  applied  to  the  tal,  or  “night-mist,”  b}T  the  figure  of  hyper¬ 
bole,  or  exaggeration,  to  indicate  extraordinarily  copious  autumn 
clouds  of  moisture. 

1  2  Samuel  i.  21.  2  Job  xxxviii.  28.  3  1  Kings  xvii.  1. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


143 


and  rain/’  seeing  that  they  are  really  two  different 
kinds  of  showers.  The  matar,  or  “rain,”  falls  at 
all  hours  during  winter,  while  the  tal ,  or  “  night- 
mist,”  falls  during  the  hours  of  darkness  in  summer 
and  autumn. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  what  a  depth  of  meaning, 
what  a  wealth  of  promise,  there  is  in  those  sublime 
words,  part  of  the  grand  charta  of  the  endless 
national  life  of  the  Hebrew  race — 

u  I  will  be  as  the  night-mist  unto  Israel.” 1 

Withered  by  the  world’s  contempt,  scorched  by 
eighteen  centuries  of  fiery  persecution,  and,  far 
worse  than  suffering,  by  eighteen  centuries  of  sin 
and  hardened  unbelief,  God  has  still  mercy  in  store 
for  His  ancient  people.  This  barren  soil  shall  yet 
bear  again,  for  the  copious  clouds  of  Divine  grace 
shall  come,  and  Israel 

“  Shall  grow  as  the  crimson  anemone, 

And  cast  forth  his  roots  as  Lebanon. 

His  branches  shall  spread, 

And  his  beauty  shall  be  as  the  olive, 

And  his  fragrance  as  Lebanon. 

They  that  dwell  under  his  shadow  shall 
return ; 

They  shall  revive  as  the  corn, 

And  grow  as  the  vine  : 

The  renown  thereof  shall  be  as  the  wine 
of  Lebanon.”2 


1  Hosea  xiv.  5. 


2  Hosea  xiv.  5-7. 


144 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


It  is  very  striking  in  this  connection  to  notice 
that  the  “  night-mist  ”  of  the  hot  season  falls, 
as  I  have  shown,  chiefly  in  the  autumn,  more 
largely,  perhaps,  in  September  than  in  any  other 
month.  It  was  on  the  i  oth  of  the  “  seventh 
month”  of  the  Jewish  ecclesiastical  year,  which 
answers  to  September,  that  the  solemn  clay  of  atone¬ 
ment  fell.  This  day  was  to  be  kept  as  a  fast 
and  season  of  repentance  by  the  whole  nation,  a 
day  on  which  publicly  “  to  afflict  their  souls,”  fol¬ 
lowed  five  days  afterwards  by  the  great  annual 
week  of  rejoicing  known  as  the  feast  of  Taber¬ 
nacles.1  How,  there  is  a  very  general  agreement 
as  to  the  figurative  and  typical  meaning  of  the 
three  great  Jewish  festivals.  The  feast  of  Passover 
prefigured  the  death  of  Christ,  and  our  redemption 
through  His  blood.  The  second  great  feast,  that  of 
Pentecost,  has  found  its  prophetic  fulfilment  in  the 
first  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  Church 
by  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  the  gathering  in  and  offer¬ 
ing  to  God  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  great  harvest 
of  souls,  of  which  it  was  the  earnest.  But  the 
third  and  last  great  feast,  this  same  feast  of  Taber¬ 
nacles,  has  not  yet  been  fulfilled  in  its  deep  pro¬ 
phetic  sense.  It  is  called  also  “  the  feast  of  In¬ 
gathering,”  and  evidently  signifies  the  glorious 
completion  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  Christ’s 

1  Leviticus  xxiii.  27-43. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


145 


millennial  reign  on  earth.  It  must,  as  we  learn 
from  many  Scriptures,  be  immediately  preceded 
by  Israel’s  repentance  as  a  nation,  and  their  true 
turning  to  God  in  Christ.  Of  that  day  it  is 
said,  “  I  will  pour  upon  the  house  of  David,  and 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem,  the  spirit  of 
grace  and  of  supplications;  and  they  shall  look 
upon  me  whom  they  pierced :  and  they  shall  mourn 
for  him  as  one  mourneth  for  an  only  [son],  and  shall 
be  in  bitterness  for  him  as  one  that  is  in  bitterness 
for  his  firstborn.”  1 

It  may  quicken  our  zeal  in  endeavouring  to 
bring  the  Jews  to  a  knowledge  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  that  it  is  for  their  repentance  and  ac¬ 
knowledgment  of  the  Saviour,  that  the  Apostle 
Peter  tells  us  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  and 
the  millennial  day,  the  “  seasons  of  refreshing,” 
that  is,  of  joy  and  rest  which  Messiah  was  to  bring 
when  He  came  in  glory,  “the  times  of  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  all  things,”  now  tarries.  When  preaching 
to  Israel  in  the  Temple,  in  Solomon’s  Porch,  he 
appeals  to  them  to  accept  Jesus  as  a  nation,  be¬ 
cause  on  this  acceptance  their  own  future  and  that 
of  the  world  depends.  “Ptepent  ye  therefore,”  he 
cries  with  prophetic  voice,  “and  turn  again,  for 
the  blotting  out  of  your  sins,  in  order  that 
seasons  of  refreshing  may  come  from  the  presence 


1  Zecliariah  xii.  io. 


146 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


of  the  Lord ;  and  [in  order  that ]  he  may  send  forth 
the  Christ,  who  was  before  appointed  (that  is,  fore¬ 
ordained)  for  yon,  even  Jesus ;  whom  the  heaven 
must  receive  until  the  times  of  the  restoration  of 
all  things,  of  which  God  spoke  by  the  mouth  of  all 
his  holy  prophets  since  the  world  began.”  1 

If  words  have  any  meaning,  we  must  gather  from 
this  passage,  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  the 
whole  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets,  that  the  mani¬ 
festation  of  Christ  at  His  second  coming,  and  the 
true,  long-foreshadowed  keeping  of  the  great  feast 
of  Tabernacles,  or  Ingathering — that  is,  the  glorious 
consummation  of  Messiah’s  kingdom  on  earth — 
awaits  the  national  repentance  and  conversion  of 
the  Jews. 

These  “seasons  of  refreshing,”  or,  as  the  word 
literally  means,  “  coolness  after  heat,”  are  well  set 
forth  under  the  cool,  refreshing  influences  of  the 
rich  life-giving  clouds  of  moisture,  which  come  most 
abundantly  at  that  very  season  of  the  year  when 
the  typical  feast  of  Tabernacles  was  appointed  to 
be  held !  With  a  beautiful  depth  and  appropriate- 

1  Acts  iii.  19-21.  In  our  version  this  important  meaning  is 
entirely  obscured  by  the  misrendering  of  the  words  oirws  av, 
opus  an,  “when,”  instead  of  “ in  oi'der  that.”  oirus  never  occurs 
in  the  sense  of  “when”  in  all  the  New  Testament,  “nor  indeed,” 
to  use  the  words  of  Dean  Alford,  “  with  an  indicative  at  all ;  and, 
if  it  did,  the  addition  of  and  the  use  of  a  subjunctive,  would 
preclude  it  here.  It  can  have  but  one  sense — ‘  in  order  that.’  ” 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


147 


ness  of  meaning,  Jehovah  has  declared  of  that  glad 
time,  which  this  feast  was  intended  to  foreshadow, 
the  time  of  the  gathering  in  of  all  the  seed  of 
Abraham — 

“  I  will  be  as  tlie  night-mist  unto  Israel.” 

And  here  we  are  naturally  led  to  glance  at  a 
passage  which  has  much  exercised  the  minds  of 
critics,  and  of  which  many  fanciful  and  varying 
interpretations  have  been  suggested.  Speaking  of 
the  day  when  Christ  is  to  be  enthroned  in  Zion,  it 
is  said  of  Israel — 

“  Thy  people  are  free-will  offerings  in  the  day 
of  thy  power, 

In  holy  beauties ; 

From  the  womb  of  the  dawn 

Thou  hast  the  night-mist  of  thy  youth.” 1 

This  1 1  oth  Psalm  speaks  plainly  of  Messiah  as  He 
Himself  has  told  us.2  It  gives  a  view  of  the 
accomplishment  of  His  manifested  kingdom  on 
earth,  when  He  shall  rule  in  the  midst  of  His 
enemies,  and  the  seat  of  His  power  will  be  in  Zion. 

1  Psalm  cx.  3.  The  word  here  that  I  have  translated  youth 
TVnb'  yaldooth,  comes  from  the  root  “1^  ycdcul,  “to  beget.”  It 
may  possibly  mean  “birth,”  but  seems  more  likely  to  be  “child¬ 
hood”  or  “youth.” 

2  Matthew  xxii.  41-45- 


148 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


This  is  the  time  when  “  a  nation  (the  nation  of 
Israel)  shall  be  born  at  once,”  and  converted,  saved, 
and  restored  to  their  own  land,  shall  begin  a  new, 
fruitful,  and  everlasting  career  of  peace  and  glory.1 
This  doubtless  is  the  “  youth  ”  spoken  of  here,  the 
commencement  of  Israel’s  new  life,  for  this  third 
verse  of  the  1 1  oth  Psalm  applies  not  to  the  King, 
but  to  His  people.  The  rich  night-mists  of  Divine 
reviving  influences  will  be  shed  forth  at  the  close  of 
this  dispensation,  and  bring  about  this  glorious  and 
long- foretold  new  birth.  The  “womb  of  the  dawn” 
seems  evidently  a  highly  poetical  and  thoroughly 
Eastern  expression  for  the  fleecy  enfolding  clouds 
from  out  of  which  an  autumn  morning  in  Palestine 
appears  to  emerge.  But  the  mist- clad  autumn 
morning  is,  as  we  have  seen,  the  time  typical  of  the 
millennium  shadowed  forth  by  the  glad  autumn  feast 
of  Ingathering.  It  is  therefore  as  much  as  to  say, 
the  freshness  of  thy  new  birth  dates  and  is  derived 

1  Isaiah  lxvi.  7-1 1.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  this  time  of 
Israel’s  yet  future  salvation,  so  plainly  foretold  throughout  this 
chapter,  is  elsewhere  represented  as  one  of  universal  newness  of  life. 
It  is  the  time  of  the  “first  resuirection,”  that  of  the  “blessed 
dead,”  “the  church  of  the  first-born,”  which  is  to  precede  the 
millennium  (Revelation  xx.  4-6).  It  is  the  time  of  the  making  of 
“new  heavens  and  a  new  earth”  (Isaiah  lxvi.  22  ;  lxv.  17  ;  Reve¬ 
lation  xxi.  1 ).  It  is  also  the  time  of  new  life  for  the  Gentile  world, 
“  for  if,”  says  the  Apostle  Paul,  “  the  casting  away  of  them  (the 
Jews)  is  the  reconciling  of  the  world,  what  will  the  receiving  [of 
them  be]  but  life  from  the  dead?  ”  (Romans  xi.  15). 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


149 


from  the  dawn  of  “  the  day  of  the  Lord,”  “  the  day 
of  Jesus  Christ,”  earth’s  seventh  millennial  day  of 
Sahhatli  rest,  after  six  millennial  working-days  of 
toil  and  sorrow.  Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  the 
people  of  Israel  as  a  nation  he  all  presented  as 
free-will  offerings  before  the  Lord,  and  “in  holy 
beauties,” 1  that  is,  in  the  glorious  ceremonial  services 


1  The  expression  “  holy  beauties,”  in  the  Old  Testament,  when 
connected  with  the  literal  Zion,  does  not  bear  that  abstract  appli¬ 
cation  which  is  generally  supposed,  but  naturally  applies  to  the 
magnificent  ritual  worship,  such  as  that  established  by  the  law 
of  Moses,  and  perfected  in  the  days  of  Solomon  when  he  had 
built  the  Temple  of  Jehovah  at  Jerusalem,  and  that  which  will 
be  set  up  again  amongst  Israel  at  Messiah’s  second  coming.  A 
careful  reading  of  the  last  nine  chapters  of  Ezekiel,  and  a  con¬ 
sideration  of  their  orderly  connection  with  those  that  immediately 
precede,  which  tell  of  the  restoration  of  Israel  to  their  own  land, 
and  their  deliverance  from  Gentile  foes,  can  leave  no  doubt  that 
the  Temple  there  described  is  to  be  a  literal  structure.  That 
the  Temple  and  its  ritual  of  sacrifice  are  unmistakably  referred 
to  in  the  prophets  as  existing  during  the  millennium,  appears 
from  Isaiah  lx.  7,  and  also  from  Isaiah  ii.  2,  and  Micah  iv. 
1,  2,  in  both  of  which  latter  passages  “the  mountain  of  the 
House,”  the  technical  Jew’ish  term  for  the  Temple,  is  repre¬ 
sented  as  being  established  on  Mount  Zion  “  in  the  end  of  the 
days,”  that  is,  “the  last  days.”  Nor  is  it  possible  to  confound  the 
earthly  Jerusalem  of  Ezekiel  with  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  of  John. 
In  the  earthly  Jerusalem  there  is  to  be  a  grand  temple  (Ezekiel 
xl.-xlvi).  In  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  we  read,  “I  saw  no  temple 
therein”  (Revelation  xxi.  22).  Again,  the  city  of  Ezekiel  is  to  be 
four  thousand  five  hundred  measures  square  (Ezekiel  xlviii.  30-35), 
while  the  figurative  Zion  is  said  to  be  of  the  enormous  size  of  a 
cube  of  twelve  thousand  furlongs,  or  fifteen  hundred  miles  (Revela¬ 
tion  xxi.  16).  The  area  of  Ezekiel’s  Temple  is  to  be  a  square  of 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


150 

of  Ezekiel’s  Temple,  appear  every  one  of  them  in 
Zion  as  true  worshippers  of  the  Triune  Jehovah. 
But  from  the  very  earliest  breaking  of  that  day 


five  hundred  reeds,  equal  to  some  two  thousand  yards,  a  space  of 
more  than  a  square  mile  (Ezekiel  xlii.  16-20).  In  connection  with 
its  worship  there  will  be  memorial  sacrifices,  pointing  back  to  the 
atoning  work  of  Messiah,  just  as  formerly  there  were  sacrifices 
pointing  forward  to  it.  These  sacrifices,  it  is  important  to  observe, 
differ  in  many  respects  from  those  of  the  Mosaic  law  (compare 
Ezekiel  xlv.  21-25  with  Numbers  xxviii.  16-24,  and  Numbers  xxix. 
13-40).  The  feasts  of  the  Sabbath,  New  Moon,  Passover,  and 
Tabernacles,  are  to  be  kept,  and  also  the  year  of  Jubilee  (Ezekiel 
xlv.  17-25  ;  xlvi.  16,  17).  There  will  be  no  ark  in  this  future 
Temple  (Jeremiah  iii.  16).  There  will  be  no  court  of  Israel  as 
distinct  from  that  of  the  Gentiles.  All  the  nations  of  the  world  are 
to  come  up  formally  once  every  year  to  Jerusalem,  at  the  feast  of 
Tabernacles,  “to  worship  the  King,  Jehovah  of  Hosts”  (Zechariah 
xiv.  16-19),  while  pilgrims  from  the  end  of  the  earth  will  be  con¬ 
stantly  present  at  all  the  solemn  Temple  services  (Isaiah  lxvi.  23). 
The  nations,  it  would  appear,  will  come  up  to  Jerusalem  each  year 
in  the  persons  of  their  chosen  representatives.  What  “  holy 
beauties”  will  then  be  seen  in  the  visible  worship  of  Jehovah,  as 
each  year,  at  the  feast  of  Tabernacles,  the  service  led  by  Israel 
will  be  responded  to  by  countless  multitudes  of  every  kindred  and 
tongue  !  The  area  of  this  Temple  enclosure,  vast  as  it  is,  will  be 
none  too  great  to  accommodate  so  mighty  a  congregation.  I11 
Zephaniah  we  read  that  at  this  time  the  confusion  of  Babel  will  be 
removed,  and  mankind  will  again  speak  with  one  tongue,  and  that 
with  a  view  to  the  need  of  this  for  the  purpose  of  united  Divine 
worship — 

“  Then  will  I  turn  to  the  peoples  a  pure  language  (literally 
‘  a  pure  lip'), 

That  they  may  all  call  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah, 

To  serve  him  with  one  consent  (literally  *  with  one 
shoulder’).”  (Zephaniah  iii.  9. 


THE  NIGHT-MIST. 


1 5 1 

shall  commence  their  new  life.  “From  the  womb 
of  dawn,” — from  its  very  first  hours, — the  Spirit’s 
influences,  like  a  life-giving  night-mist  sweeping 
over  a  parched  and  barren  soil,  shall  renew  their 
youth ! 


(  '52  ) 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 

“  Jehovah  will  send  thy  strong  staff  ont  of  Zion  : 

Rule  thou  in  the  midst  of  thine  enemies.” 

— Psalm  cx.  2. 

A  very  short  residence  in  Syria  serves  to  show  that 
the  walking-stick,  or  staff,  occupies  a  much  more 
marked  and  important  place  in  that  land  than  is 
commonly  the  case  with  us.  It  is  uniformly 
fashioned  after  the  same  patterns,  and  carried  con¬ 
stantly  by  the  same  classes  as  a  mark  of  distinc¬ 
tion.  You  rarely  meet  a  Jewish  rabbi  in  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem  without  a  long,  stout  stick, 
with  an  ornamental  handle,  which  is  considered  a 
badge  of  his  calling  when  he  appears  in  public. 
Again,  Derweeshes,  or  Fakeers ,  amongst  the  Moham¬ 
medans,  are  divided  into  four  orders.  The  first  three 
orders  are  known  respectively  by  bearing,  when 
abroad,  a  sword,  a  javelin,  and  a  spontoon.  The 
fourth,  or  el  Kclanee  order,  is  distinguished  by  the 
carrying  of  a  small  stick  called  the  “  mohjanet .”  It  is 
about  three  feet  long,  with  a  straight,  natural  handle, 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


153 


never  at  a  right  angle  with  the  stick,  hut  slanting 
more  or  less  obliquely  across  it,  and  made  invari¬ 
ably  of  wood  of  the  almond  tree.  It  is  the  sacred 
stick  so  often  seen  in  the  Egyptian  sculptures,  and 
is  regarded  to  the  present  day  with  much  super¬ 
stitious  veneration.  Mohammedans  believe  that  if 
a  Derweesh  strike  the  ground  with  his  mohjanet 
several  times  round  the  bed  of  a  sick  man,  he  will 
recover.  When  a  Derweesh  of  this  order  dies,  his 
son  succeeds  him,  and  this  succession  is  called 
“  the  carrying  of  the  mohjanet.”  Besides  these, 
there  are  the  peculiar  rod  and  staff  of  the  shep¬ 
herd,  which  are  both  so  constantly  to  be  met  with 
in  the  very  extensive  pastoral  regions  in  and  around 
the  Holy  Land.  These  facts  alone  are  significant 
in  connection  with  the  frequent  and  very  special 
allusions  to  staves  which  occur  in  Scripture. 

There  is  one  such  rod,  however,  which  has  not 
as  yet  been  fully  described,  but  which,  if  the  follow¬ 
ing  conclusions  are  sound,  is  particularly  entitled 
to  notice.  It  is  a  stout  staff,  from  five  to  six  feet 
lonsx,  often  to  be  met  with  in  Palestine  and  the 
encampments  of  the  surrounding  deserts,  and  plays 
no  inconsiderable  part  in  affairs  connected  with  the 
most  primitive  forms  of  Eastern  life.  The  pecu¬ 
liarity  of  this  staff  consists  in  its  being  always  the 
straight  bough  of  a  tree  in  its  natural  and  un¬ 
dressed  state.  In  that  part  where  it  is  constantly 


154 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


held  in  the  hand,  it  is  sometimes,  from  extreme 
age,  much  worn.  This,  however,  is  the  only  mark 
of  manipulation  which  it  bears.  Such  a  staff, 
though  used  ordinarily  as  a  support  in  walking, 
is  something  more  than  this,  for  it  forms  one  of 
the  recognised  insignia  of  rank  and  power.  It 
marks  first  the  hereditary  and  lineally  descended 
ruler.  Even  where  all  is  primitive,  in  the  villages 
of  Palestine,  and  amongst  the  Bedcnveen  tribes  of 
Syria  and  Arabia,  the  customs  which  prevail  are 
perhaps  the  most  ancient  of  which  any  vestige 
remains.  Now,  the  elder,  or  head  of  each  village, 
who  is  also  the  hereditary  ruler  of  the  place,  carries 
such  a  staff  as  I  have  described.  His  father  held 
it  before  him,  and,  unless  he  is  deposed,  it  will  be 
borne  in  turn  by  his  son.  The  sheikh,  the  heredi¬ 
tary  and  lineally  descended  chieftain  or  prince  of 
each  Bedcnveen  tribe,  may  also  be  seen  to  carry  this 
ancestral  staff,  as  a  badge  of  his  dignity  and  power. 
Travellers  in  the  Arabian  desert  will  recall  the 
familiar  sight  of  the  venerable  white-haired  chief¬ 
tain  who  has  met  them  at  the  door  of  his  tent 
holding  such  a  staff.  It  forms  one  of  the  prized 
possessions  of  the  family.  At  the  sheikh’s  death, 
the  right  to  carry  it  passes  to  his  eldest  son,  who 
inherits  it  as  the  head  of  his  house  and  tribe. 

This  staff  also  marks  the  priestly  rank,  which  it 
appertains  to  equally  with  the  princely.  The  kadi , 


AN  ARAB  SHEIXH  LEAVING  ON  HIS  STAFF, 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


157 


wlio  sits  as  judge  in  religious  questions ;  the  mufti , 
who  answers  amongst  Mohammedans  to  the  chief 
priest ;  and  the  ullama ,  or  teachers  of  religion,  who 
answer  in  like  manner  to  the  priests — all  bear,  in 
right  of  their  office,  a  staff  like  the  one  described. 
On  the  occasion,  not  very  rare  of  late  years,  of  the  visit 
of  some  prince  or  sovereign  to  the  Holy  Land,  it  has 
been  a  remarkable  sight  to  see  the  kadi  and  mufti 
of  Jerusalem  accompanying  the  'jpasha  to  meet  the 
distinguished  guest,  clad  in  their  costly  robes  of 
embroidered  silk,  and  mounted  on  richly- caparisoned 
horses,  yet  bearing  in  their  hands  this  rude  staff ; 
and  it  would  be  inexplicable  except  for  the  reason 
I  have  now  given.  The  use  of  such  a  staff  is  an 
institution  of  the  country,  and,  like  many  other 
such  simple  Oriental  customs,  has  an  appropriate 
symbolical  meaning.  As  the  branch  is  the  direct 
and  natural  offshoot  and  representative  of  the  parent 
tree,  so  the  man  who  owns  the  ancestral  undressed 
staff,  or  natural  bough,  is  regarded  as  the  lineal 
offspring,  and  “  head  of  the  house  of  his  father.”  1 
That  it  should  have  become  the  mark  of  the  priest 
admits  of  an  obvious  explanation.  In  patriarchal 
times  each  head  of  a  house  appears  in  the  character 
of  a  priest  to  his  own  family.  Noah  offered  a  sacri¬ 
fice  on  leaving  the  ark,  and  Abraham  built  an  altar 
in  the  places  where  he  abode.  Melcliizedec,  king 

1  Numbers  xvii.  3  ;  Joshua  xxii.  14. 


158 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


of  Salem,  according  to  J ewisli  tradition  the  patriarch 
Shem,  is  another  notable  example.  Thus  the  offices 
of  priest  and  patriarchal  ruler  were  originally  vested 
in  the  same  person,  and  when  afterwards  they  be¬ 
came  distinct,  as  each  remained  hereditary,  they 
continued  to  he  marked  in  the  same  manner. 

In  consequence  of  these  facts  coming  to  my 
knowledge,  I  was  led  to  inquire  whether  any  refer¬ 
ence  to  this  staff  of  double  office  is  to  he  found 
in  the  Bible.  How  there  are  two  words  used  in 
Hebrew  for  “tribe.”  One  of  these,  shaivet /  will 
be  found  fully  described  under  a  notice  of  the 
shepherd’s  club.  Its  primary  meaning  is  a  blud¬ 
geon  or  club,  and  hence  the  “  sceptre,”  or  mace  of 
power;  and  from  this  it  came  to  mean  a  “tribe,” 
from  the  sceptre  borne  by  its  chief.  The  other 
word,  which  occurs  more  frequently,  is  matteh1 2 
and  often  requires  the  rendering  of  rod.  But 
what  kind  of  rod  ?  I  answer,  evidently  a  means 
of  support,  a  rod  used  as  a  staff,  or  walking  stick. 
Five  times  we  have  in  Hebrew  the  metaphorical 
use  “  matteh  lehhem ,”  “  staff,  or  support  of  bread.”  3 
Jacob,  we  read,  “  worshipped  [leaning]  upon  the 
top  of  his  staff  (matteh).” 4  In  our  Bible  the 
passage  in  the  Old  Testament  is  translated  “  upon 

1  2  nt2D 

••  ••  ••  — 

•  • 

3  Leviticus  xxvi.  26  ;  Psalm  cv.  16  ;  Ezekiel  iv.  16;  v.  16;  xiv.  13. 

4  Genesis  xlvii.  ^1  :  Hebrews  xi.  21. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


159 


the  bed's  head.”  It  is  only  a  question  of  the 
Hebrew  vowel  points,  which  were  not  a  part  of 
the  inspired  volume.  The  consonants  in  the  ancient 
rolls  stand  alone  thus,  n&ft,  mtth,1  and  might  he 
rendered  either  mittah ,  “  bed,”  or  matteh ,  “  staff.” 
The  inspired  quotation,  however,  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  most  em¬ 
phatically  decides  the  text  in  favour  of  the  latter. 
Because  Papists,  without  a  shadow  of  reason,  have 
pointed  to  this  passage  in  proof  of  the  lawfulness 
of  image-worship,  some  Protestant  commentators, 
with  mistaken  zeal,  have  tried  to  defend  the  evident 
mistranslation  of  Genesis  xlvii.  3 1 .  Beds  in  the 
East  consist  simply  of  a  thin  woollen  mattress,  rolled 
up  in  the  morning  and  put  on  one  side,  and  at 
night  stretched  out  for  use  on  the  floor.  Hence  the 
derivation  of  mittah,  “  bed,”  from  natah,  “  to  stretch 
out.”  2  They  are  often  laid  on  a  raised  portion  of 
the  room,  generally  in  a  recess,  some  two  feet  high 
by  three  feet  broad,  called  in  Arabic  a  mastabeh, 
which  accounts  for  such  expressions  as,  “  Thou 
shalt  not  come  doivn  from  the  bed  on  which  thou 
art  gone  up.” 3  Beds  or  couches  in  palaces  and 
great  houses  are  still  made  sometimes  in  connection 
with  bedsteads,  but  this  is  rare.4  Jacob,  in  all  pro- 

1  12,  written  thus  with  a  dot  in  the  centre,  stands  for  a  double  t. 

2  HLDJ  3  2  Kings  i.  4.  See  also  Psalm  cxxxii.  3. 

T  T* 

4  Canticles  iii.  7  ;  Amos  vi.  4. 


i6o 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Inability,  had  such  a  bed  as  David’s  must  have  been, 
the  simple  mattress  we  have  described,  for  Saul 
commanded  concerning  the  latter,  “  Bring  him  up 
to  me  in  the  bed  ( mittah ).” 1  Such,  too,  was  the 
bed  of  the  paralytic  man  in  the  Gospels,  which  our 
Lord  directed  him  to  take  up.  It  will  be  seen  at 
once  that  it  is  impossible  in  such  a  case  to  speak  of 
“  worshipping  on  the  bed’s  head.” 

Not  only  do  we  thus  gather  that  the  matteh  was 
a  staff  for  support,  but,  if  we  trace  the  word  back 
to  its  primary  meaning,  we  find  it  agreed  that  this 
is  “branch,”  or  “bough,”  from  the  root  already 
mentioned,  natah ,  “  to  stretch  out,”  “  to  spread 
abroad.” 2  Here,  then,  we  have  the  idea  of  a 
natural  branch  used  as  a  staff,  and,  since  we 
know  that  shaivet,  club,  signifies  tribe,  from  the 
club  or  sceptre  borne  by  its  chief,  is  it  not  reason¬ 
able  to  infer  that  matteh,  boimh,  or  natural  staff, 
means  tribe,  from  the  undressed  hereditary  rod  in 
the  possession  of  the  head  of  its  principal  family  ? 
If  this  conclusion  is  sound,  then  matteh ,  as  distin¬ 
guished  from  shaivet ,  would  be  a  tribe  as  lineally 
descended  from  the  patriarchs.  Now  this  is  a  shade 

1  I  Samuel  xix.  15.  This  command  is  rendered  somewhat  more 
reasonable  than  might  at  first  sight  appear  by  the  fact  that  Eastern 
men  and  women,  even  of  the  highest  class,  never  undress  at  night, 
or  use  any  different  clothing,  simply  removing  their  outer  garment 
and  their  shoes  before  they  retire  to  rest. 

2  Ezekiel  xix.  11,  12,  14. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


1 6 1 


of  meaning  actually  required  by  several  passages  in 
which  it  occurs,  as  given  by  Dr.  Lee  in  his  Hebrew 
Lexicon,  namely,  “  a  tribe  peculiarly  descended 
from  the  patriarchs  of  Israel.” 1  Shaivet  must  be 
understood  of  a  tribe  in  its  federal  and  corporate 
capacity,  and  with  regard  to  the  sceptre  or  seat  of 
power :  matteh  of  a  tribe  viewed  as  a  clan,  repre¬ 
sented  by  an  hereditary  chieftain. 

This  at  once  gives  a  new  and  striking  significance 
to  several  passages  in  the  Old  Testament.  Tamar, 
it  will  be  seen,  demanded  from  Judah  one  of  his 
most  valued  possessions,  and  that  by  which  he  could 
be  certainly  identified,  when,  in  answer  to  the  ques¬ 
tion,  “  What  pledge  shall  I  give  thee  ?  ”  she  said, 
“  Thy  signet  and  thy  bracelets,  and  thy  staff  ( matteh ), 
that  is  in  thy  hand.”  2  Precious  as  the  signet,  or 
seal,  is  in  the  East,  this  staff  would  be  equally 
prized.  Commentators  have  hitherto  represented 
his  daughter-in-law  as  a  designing  woman,  who 
sought,  by  asking  amongst  other  things  for  such 
a  trifle  as  his  walking-stick,  to  hide  her  object  in 
seeking  the  valuable  marks  of  identification  that 
would  be  supplied  by  his  seal  and  bracelets.  But, 
if  the  view  here  taken  be  right,  we  learn  that  there 
was  no  attempt  at  deception,  and  have  another 
striking  touch  added  to  the  sad  picture  of  sensual 

1  Dr.  Lee  refers  to  Numbers  i.  4,  16  ;  xvii.  17,  21  ;  xxxi.  4,  5,  &c. 

2  Genesis  xxxviii.  18. 


L 


162 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


recklessness  which  must  have  brought  upon  Judah 
a  year  of  very  great  shame  and  anxiety. 

We  have  already  observed  that  the  dying  patriarch 
Jacob  is  said  to  have  bowed  himself  in  worship, 
leaning  on  the  top  of  his  matteh ,  or  staff.1  The 
Apostle  Paul  appears  to  enumerate  this  as  a  special 
act  of  faith  in  his  letter  to  the  Hebrews.  “  By 
faith  Jacob,  when  he  was  dying,  blessed  each  of  the 
sons  of  Joseph;  and  worshipped,  [leaning]  upon  the 
top  of  his  staff.”  2  On  referring  to  the  narrative  in 
Genesis,  the  blessing  the  two  sons  of  Joseph,  and 
the  worshipping  when  he  leaned  on  his  staff,  appear 
as  two  entirely  separate  acts,  which  took  place  on 
different  occasions.3  When  he  thus  leaned  upon 
his  ancestral  staff,  Jacob  was  taking  a  solemn  oath 
of  Joseph  that  he  would  carry  his  remains  to 
Hebron,  and  bury  him  there  with  his  fathers  in  the 
land  of  promise.  The  act  of  faith,  therefore,  to 
which  allusion  is  so  briefly  but  pointedly  made 
by  the  Apostle  in  the  latter  part  of  the  verse  in 
the  words,  “  And  worshipped,  [leaning]  upon  the  top 
of  his  staff,”  consisted  in  the  patriarch’s  giving  up  a 
splendid  and  honoured  sepulchre,  which  would  cer¬ 
tainly  have  been  his  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  As  it 
was,  the  officials  of  Pharaoh’s  palace,  and  all  the 
leading  nobility  of  the  country,  together  with  an 


1  Genesis  xlvii.  31.  2  Hebrews  xi.  21. 

3  Compare  Genesis  xlvii.  29-31  with  Genesis  xlviii. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF.  I  63 

imposing  military  escort,  actually  accompanied  liis 
coffin  a  distance  of  four  or  five  days’  journey;1  and 
the  state  would  doubtless  have  lavished  upon  him 
little  short  of  royal  pomp  and  distinction,  if  he  had 
been  content  to  he  buried  in  their  midst.  Yet  he 
gave  up  the  extraordinary  magnificence  of  a  princely 
and  public  entombment  in  the  greatest  land  of  that 
age — an  entombment,  which,  with  its  deathless 
monument  hewn  and  sculptured  in  acres  of  living 
rock,  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  coveted 
distinctions  that  even  that  famous  land  could  afford 
— to  lie  amongst  strangers  in  a  far-off  and  obscure 
grave.  This  was  the  act ;  and  it  was  a  noble 
expression  of  implicit  faith  in  the  promise  of  God 
to  his  fathers  and  to  himself,  that  the  land  which 
held  that  grave  would  yet  assuredly  be  theirs. 
Bearing  these  circumstances  in  mind,  the  appro¬ 
priateness  of  the  mention  of  this  peculiar  ancestral 
staff,  and  its  touching  and  eloquent  connection  with 
the  story,  will  be  readily  seen. 

It  is  deeply  interesting  to  observe  that  Jacob’s 
choice,  even  from  an  earthly  standpoint,  and  with  a 
view  only  to  the  sacredness  of  sepulture,  may  be 
said  to  have  been  as  wise  as  it  was  faithful.  There 
is  not,  perhaps,  one  ancient  tomb  in  all  Egypt,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  care  with  which  such  spots  were 
formerly  guarded,  which  has  not  been  completely 

1  Genesis  1.  7— 1 1. 


164 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


rifled,  and  few  which  do  not  now  lie  open  to  injury 
of  every  kind.  The  last  resting-places  of  the 
mightiest  Pharaohs  are  in  our  day  shown  to  all 
comers  by  reckless  and  ignorant  custodians.  Yet 
the  cave  of  Machpelah,  which  we  have  every  reason 
to  believe  must  lie  under  the  magnificent  Moham¬ 
medan  mosque  at  Hebron,  is  to  this  hour  guarded 
with  a  veneration  greater  than  any  other  sepulchre 
has  ever  enjoyed  !  So  jealously  is  it  now  watched 
over,  that  the  Prince  of  Wales,  accompanied  by  Dean 
Stanley,  alone  of  all  non-Mohammedans  has  been 
allowed  to  enter  the  mosque  during  this  century. 
Only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  could  His  Ptoyal 
Highness  obtain  permission  to  visit  it.  A  guard  of 
two  thousand  soldiers  had  to  be  told  off  for  his 
protection,  and  all  the  inhabitants  of  Hebron  ordered 
to  keep  within  their  houses.  The  very  name  of 
the  town  in  Arabic,  El  Hhulil ,  “  the  friend,”  com¬ 
memorates  the  head  of  Jacob’s  family,  who  was 
“  the  friend  of  God.” 1  This  tomb  is  one  of  the 
few  ancient  localities  in  Palestine  that  seem  to  be 
undoubtedlv  genuine.  Por  three  thousand  seven 
hundred  years,  Jews,  Christians,  and  Mohammedans, 
amid  their  irreconcilable  differences,  have  agreed 
in  doing  honour  to  this  spot  as  the  sepulchre  of 
the  great  patriarch.  Hot  only  does  the  strongest 
tradition  point  to  the  present  site  being  that  of  the 

1  2  Chronicles  xx.  7  >  Isaiah  xli.  8  ;  James  ii.  23 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STxAFF. 


165 


actual  resting-place  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob, 
but  also  to  the  very  building  which  now  surmounts 
it,  called  El  Haram ,  “  the  sanctuary/’  being  “  the 
workmanship  of  Abraham’s  own  descendants  while 
they  yet  dwelt  in  Palestine.”  The  enclosure  wall 
has  been  styled  by  Lieutenant  Conder,  E.E.,  “one 
of  the  mysteries  of  Palestine,  and  a  monument 
inferior  only  to  the  Temple  enclosure,  which  it 
resembles  in  style.”  One  stone  is  said  to  be  thirty- 
eight  feet  long  by  three  and  a  half  feet  high. 
Lieutenant  Conder  remarks  that  “  they  are  all 
drafted  with  the  real  Jewish  draft,  broad,  shallow, 
and  beautifully  cut,  as  at  Jerusalem.”  1  The  Bor¬ 
deaux  pilgrim  who  saw  it  A.D.  333  describes  it 
as  “  a  quadrangle  constructed  of  stones  of  great 
beauty,”  evidently  the  one  now  existing.  Benjamin 
of  Tudela,  a  Jewish  traveller,  who  visited  it  a.d. 
1163,  when  it  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Christians,  who  had  named  the  building  St.  Abraham, 
says  that  in  the  former  Mohammedan  times  it  was 
a  synagogue.  He  adds  :  “  The  Gentiles  have  erected 
six  sepulchres  in  this  place,  which  they  pretend 
to  be  those  of  Abraham  and  Sarah,  of  Isaac  and 
Bebekah,  and  of  Jacob  and  Leah ;  the  pilgrims  are 
told  that  they  are  in  the  sepulchre  of  their  fathers, 
and  money  is  extorted  from  them.  But  if  any  Jew 
comes  who  gives  an  additional  fee  to  the  keeper  of 
1  Tent  Life  in  Palestine ,  vol.  ii.  p.  Si. 


I  66  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

the  cave,  an  iron  door  is  opened,  which  dates  from 
the  times  of  onr  forefathers,  who  rest  in  peace,  and 
with  a  burning  candle  in  his  hands  the  visitor 
descends  into  a  first  cave,  which  is  empty,  traverses 
a  second  in  the  same  state,  and  at  last  reaches  a 
third,  which  contains  six  sepulchres,  those  of  Abra¬ 
ham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  of  Sarah,  Bebekah,  and 
Leah,  one  opposite  the  other.  All  these  sepulchres 
hear  inscriptions,  the  letters  being  engraved ;  thus, 
upon  that  of  Abraham  we  read,  *  This  is  the  sepul¬ 
chre  of  our  father  Abraham,  upon  whom  he  peace  !  ’ 
and  so  upon  that  of  Isaac,  and  upon  all  the  others. 
You  then  see  tubs  filled  with  the  bones  of  Israelites, 
for  unto  this  day  it  is  a  custom  of  the  house  of 
Israel  to  bring  hither  the  hones  of  their  relicts  and 
of  their  forefathers,  and  to  leave  them  there.” 
Making  all  due  allowance  for  exaggeration  and 
inaccuracy  in  this  curious  account,  there  is  much 
reason  to  believe  it  is  right  in  its  main  statement, 
that  the  real  tombs  are  in  caves  below  the  building. 
Such  is  the  gross  superstition  of  the  Mohammedans, 
that,  while  they  lay  reckless  hands  on  every  other 
monument,  the  tomb  of  any  wely ,  or  saint,  is 
regarded  with  the  utmost  veneration.  They  fear 
that  any  profanation  of  such  a  spot  would  he  fear¬ 
fully  avenged  by  the  spirit  of  the  saint.  Hence  the 
boundless  reverence  they  pay  to  sepulchre-shrines, 
whilst  they  leave  all  else  to  ruin  and  decay. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


167 


Thus  Jacob’s  faith  in  desiring  to  he  buried  in  the 
cave  of  Machpelah,  the  humble  grave  of  his  fathers, 
in  a  distant,  foreign,  and  at  that  time  obscure  land, 
has  met  with  a  reward  even  here  below  in  the 
perpetual  honour  and  inviolability  that  has  attended 
his  last  resting-place  from  that  day  to  this ! 

The  next  mention  of  such  a  staff  brings  us  to 
Sinai.  Moses,  standing  before  the  burning  bush, 
and  hearing  his  high  commission  to  bring  forth  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  tremblingly  objects, 
‘  But,  behold,  they  will  not  believe  me  nor  hearken 
to  my  voice.  .  .  .  And  J eliovah  said  unto  him  : 
£  What  is  that  in  thine  hand  ?  ’  And  he  said :  ‘  A 
staff”’  (matteh)}  Whether  this  was  actually  Levi’s 
original  staff  or  not  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  afterwards 
repeatedly  spoken  of  as  “  Aaron’s  staff,”  2  to  whom, 
both  as  the  eldest  son  and  as  the  priest,  we  have 
seen  that  the  matteh  would  naturally  belong.  In 
reference  to  the  wonders  wrought  by  this  staff  in 
the  presence  of  Pharaoh,  it  should  be  observed  that 
the  magicians  also  each  carried  a  staff  which  they 
cast  down  in  imitation  of  Aaron.3  According  to 
the  mural  paintings  on  Egyptian  monuments,  priests 
and  other  persons  of  rank  were  in  those  days 
accustomed  to  walk  abroad  with  a  staff  from  three 
to  six  feet  long.4  As  the  Egyptian  priests  were 

1  Exodus  iv.  1,2.  2  Exodus  vii.  io,  12, 19 ;  viii.  5.  3  Exodus  vii.  12. 

4  Wilkinson’s  Ancient  Egyptians ,  vol.  iii.  pp.  3S6-3SS. 


1 68 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


distinguished  by  these  sticks,  it  was  fitting  that 
Moses  and  Aaron  amongst  God’s  priests  should 
carry  the  like  insignia.  It  will  also  he  seen  that 
there  was  a  peculiar  appropriateness  in  the  circum¬ 
stances  of  the  first  miracle,  when  Aaron’s  “staff 
swallowed  up  their  staves.”  Thus  at  the  very 
commencement  of  the  contest  between  Jehovah  and 
the  idols  of  Egypt,  victory  was  declared  on  the  side 
of  the  Lord’s  priest,  when  his  matteh  devoured  that 
of  Jannes  and  Jambres,  “  destroying  their  badge  of 
office,  and  symbolically  putting  an  end  to  their 
order  altogether.” 

We  again  meet  with  this  staff  in  that  miraculous 
proof  of  Aaron’s  Divine  appointment  to  the  priest¬ 
hood,  given  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  the  Book 
of  Numbers.  And  here  the  use  of  this  same  staff, 
in  itself,  as  we  have  seen,  the  badge  of  the  priestly 
office,  in  deciding  which  tribe  had  been  chosen  for 
the  hierarchy,  becomes  peculiarly  striking  and  ap¬ 
propriate.  Moses  is  directed  to  take  an  almond- 
wood  staff,  or  matteh ,  from  each  one  of  the  twelve 
princes,  or  heads  of  the  twelve  tribes,  and  to  write 
every  man’s  name  on  his  staff.  Aaron’s  name  was 
to  be  written  on  another  thirteenth  staff,  and  these 
were  all  to  be  laid  up  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  con¬ 
gregation  “before  Jehovah,”  that  is,  before  the  testi¬ 
mony,  or  ark,  that  it  might  be  determined  by  the 
blossoming  of  one  of  the  thirteen  which  of  the 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


1 6  9 

princes  of  the  tribes  the  Lord  had  chosen  to  the 
hereditary  office  of  high-priest.1  Dr.  Thomson,  in 
The  Land  and  the  Booh,  alluding  to  the  fact  that 
these  staves  were  of  almond  wood,  observes,  that 
they  were  “  selected  for  the  purpose  from  the  tree 
which,  in  its  natural  development,  is  the  most  ex¬ 
peditious  of  all ;  and  not  only  do  the  blossoms 
appear  on  it  suddenly,  but  the  fruit  sets  at  once, 
and  appears  while  the  flowers  are  yet  on  the  tree, 
buds,  blossoms,  and  almonds  together  on  the  same 
branch,  as  on  this  rod  of  Moses.”  To  this,  which 
he  justly  remarks  is  according  to  the  general 
economy  of  miracles,  may  now  be  added,  that  the 
staff’s  miraculous  fruitfulness  was  in  striking  agree¬ 
ment  with  its  state  as  a  natural  undressed  lough, 
and  with  its  being  “  the  mighty  staff  ”  with  which 
all  the  miracles  of  Moses  and  Aaron  had  hitherto 
been  performed. 

Dor,  that  Aaron’s  rod,  thus  laid  up,  was  indeed 
no  other  than  this  same  wonder-working  staff  with 
which  the  “  signs  ”  had  been  wrought  in  the  land 
of  Egypt,  at  the  Eed  Sea,  and  in  the  subsequent 
desert  journey,  seems  plain.  God,  in  giving  Moses 
his  first  commission,  said  of  the  staff  he  then  held 
in  his  hand,  “Thou  shalt  take  this  staff  (gnatteh)  in 
thy  hand,  wherewith  thou  shalt  do  signs.”  2  It  is 
twice  called  “  the  mighty  staff,”  or,  as  it  is  literally 

1  Numbers  xvii.  1-5  ■  2  Exodus  iv.  17. 


170 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


in  the  strong  Hebrew  superlative,  “the  staff  of 
Gocl”  ( matteh  ha-eloaheem).1  At  the  miraculous 
trial  to  ascertain  whom  the  Lord  had  appointed 
priest,  the  matteh  taken  to  represent  Aaron  is 
called  “  the  staff  of  Levi,”  2  and  also  “  the  staff  of 
Aaron,”  though,  in  the  case  of  the  twelve  princes 
of  the  other  tribes,  it  is  only  said  that  Moses  was 
to  take  “ a  staff.”3  We  are  told,  “Every  one  of 
their  princes  gave  him  a  staff  apiece;  for  each 
prince  one,  according  to  their  fathers’  houses,  even 
twelve  staves ;  and  the  staff  of  Aaron  was  among 
their  staves.” 4  At  the  close  of  the  trial  each  of 
the  twelve  princes  took  hack  his  own  lifeless  staff, 
hut  Aaron’s  staff,  that  blossomed  and  bore  fruit, 
was  brought  again  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  “before 
the  testimony,”  or  ark — in  other  words,  “  before 


1  Exodus  iv.  20 ;  xvii.  9.  This  characteristic  Hebrew  mode  of 
forming  a  strong  superlative  by  adding  to  a  noun  the  genitive  of 

D'rfpK,  or  eloaheem,  or  ail,  two  different  forms  of  the  word 
“  God,”  occurs  very  frequently.  Thus  we  read  of  “  voices  of  God,” 
or  “ mighty  voices ” — that  is,  “thunders”  (Exodus  ix.  28);  of  “a 
trembling  of  God,”  or  “mighty  trembling” — that  is,  an  “earth¬ 
quake”  (1  Samuel  xiv.  15);  of  “mountains  of  God,”  or  “mighty 
mountains  ”  (Psalm  xxxvi.  6) ;  and  of  “  cedars  of  God,”  or  “  mighty 
cedars”  (Psalm  lxxx.  10).  In  the  case,  too,  of  proper  names, 
Carmel,  “vineyard  of  God,”  signifies  “most  excellent  vineyard,” 
and  Israel,  “prince  of  God,”  is  “a  very  great  or  mighty  prince ” 
(Genesis  xxxii.  28). 

2  Numbers  xvii.  3.  3  Numbers  xvii.  2. 

4  Numbers  xvii.  6. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


I/I 

Jehovah  ” — “  for  a  token  against  the  rebels.”  1  We 
hear  of  it  next  when  God  is  about  to  work  another 
miracle  by  the  hand  of  Moses — the  bringing  water 
out  of  the  rock  at  Meribah.  “  Then  J ehovah  spake 
unto  Moses,  saying :  4  Take  the  staff ;  ’  ”  and  it  is 
added,  “  Moses  took  the  staff  from  before  Jehovah , 
as  he  commanded  him.”  2  Hence  we  may  certainly 
infer  that  Aaron’s  staff  which  budded  was  the  self¬ 
same  staff  of  almond  wood  that  Moses  had  carried 
to  Sinai,  and  with  which  all  the  miracles  were 
wrought. 

It  is  deeply  interesting  to  view  the  1 1  otli  Psalm 
in  the  light  of  these  facts.  That  this  Scripture 
refers  to  Messiah  we  know  by  His  own  application 
of  the  first  verse.  When  the  Pharisees,  in  answer 
to  the  Master’s  question,  said  that  they  thought 
Christ  was  David’s  son,  Jesus  said  to  them,  “How 
then  doth  David  in  the  spirit  call  him  Lord, 
saying — 

‘  Jehovah  said  unto  my  Lord, 

Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand, 

Until  I  make  thine  enemies 
A  footstool  for  thy  feet  ’  ?  ”  3 

1  Numbers  xvii.  io.  That  “ before  the  testimony  or  ark”  is  the 
same  as  “before  Jehovah,”  we  learn  from  a  comparison  of  verses 
4  and  7  of  this  same  chapter.  In  verse  4,  God  commanded  con¬ 
cerning  the  thirteen  staffs,  “  Thou  shalt  lay  them  up  in  the  tent  of 
meeting  (the  tabernacle)  before  the  testimony.”  In  verse  7,  where 
the  fulfilment  of  this  command  is  given,  it  is  said,  “  and  Moses  laid 
up  the  staves  before  Jehovah.” 

2  Numbers  xx.  7,  9.  3  Matthew  xxii.  41-46  ;  Psalm  cx.  r. 


172 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


That  it  is  an  important  passage,  in  proof  both 
of  Christ’s  priestly  office  and  the  change  of  the 
Levitical  law,  we  further  gather  from  the  use  that 
is  made  of  it  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.1 2 
This  1 1  otli  Psalm  represents  Messiah,  by  J ehovah’s 
appointment,  both  as  Zion’s  king  and  Zion’s  priest — 

“  Jehovah  said  unto  my  Lord  : 

‘  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand, 

Until  I  make  thine  enemies 
A  footstool  for  thy  feet.5 

Jehovah  will  send  thy  strong  staff  out  of  Zion  : 

Rule  thou  in  the  midst  of  thine  enemies. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Jehovah  hath  sworn,  and  he  will  not  repent ; 

Thou  art  a  priest  for  ever, 

After  the  order  of  Melchizedec.55  2 

The  other  kings  of  Judah  were  not  priests.  Uzziah 
was  struck  with  leprosy  for  attempting  so  much  as 
to  burn  incense.  Of  the  tribe  of  Judah  “  Moses 
spake  nothing  concerning  the  priesthood.” 3  The 
priests  of  Levi’s  line  were  not  kings.  Their  juris¬ 
diction  only  extended  to  things  spiritual.  But 
this  is  the  royal  priest,  after  the  similitude  of 
Melchizedec,  the  high-priest  Joshua’s  great  anti¬ 
type,  of  whom  it  was  said,  “He  shall  sit  and  rule 
upon  his  throne ;  and  he  shall  he  a  priest  upon  his 


1  Hebrews  v.  6,  10  ;  vii.  20,  21. 

2  Psalm  cx.  1,  2,  4. 


3  Hebrews  vii.  14. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF.  I  73 

throne.”  1  Of  this  king-priest  it  is  declared  in  the 
second  verse  of  the  1 10th  Psalm — 

“Jehovah  will  send  thy  strong  staff2  out  of  Zion.” 

This  figure  is  pregnant  with  meaning.  I11  other 
places  where  Messiah’s  power  and  kingly  authority 
is  the  subject  in  question,  the  word  “sceptre,” 
shaivet,  is  employed.3  But  the  ancestral  staff,  as 
we  have  seen,  marks  the  priest  as  well  as  the 
prince,  and  that  prince  one  of  lineal  descent.  It 
is  here,  therefore,  most  fitly  said  to  be  given  to 
him  who  is  described  as  bearing  both  offices,  and  as 
being  the  promised  prince  of  David’s  direct  line ! 

We  read  that  this  staff  shall  be  sent  “out  of 
Zion.”  This  carries  us  back  to  Aaron,  and  the  way 
in  which  his  authority  as  high-priest  was  mani¬ 
fested.  His  staff,  laid  up  “before  Jehovah,”  was 
brought  out  from  the  ark  of  the  Tabernacle,  bios- 
soming  and  bearing  almonds,  instinct  with  Kesur- 
rection-life,  indeed  a  “strong  staff”  of  indisputable 
authority  sent  out  of  the  sanctuary.  So  manifestly 
and  mightily  should  Christ  be  exhibited  to  Israel 

1  Zechariah  vi.  13. 

2  Tpy  nts»  matteh  ’uzzWia.  These  words  are  literally  “  the  staff 
of  thy  "strength.”  They  form  an  idiom  of  frequent  occurrence  in 
Hebrew,  to  be  rendered  as  above,  just  as  “  God  of  my  righteousness  ” 
should  be  translated  “my righteous  God”  (Psalm  iv.  1). 

3  Numbers  xxiv.  17  ;  Psalm  ii.  9,  &c. 


174 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


out  of  Jerusalem  as  their  great  High- priest,  to 
whose  authority  God  would  set  supernatural  seal ! 
That  which  answers  to  the  miraculous  proof  of 
Aaron’s  priesthood,  in  the  case  of  our  Saviour,  is 
undoubtedly  His  own  resurrection.  By  this  His 
Divine  mission  was  incontrovertibly  established. 
He  was  “with  power  declared  [to  be]  the  Son  of 
God,  according  to  the  spirit  of  holiness,  by  the 
resurrection  from  among  the  dead .” 1  Just  as  the 
blossoming,  or  coming  to  life,  of  Aaron’s  almond- 
wood  staff,  was  the  sign  of  his  appointment  by  God, 
so  Christ  Himself,  “  the  Branch  of  Jehovah,”  wTas 
raised  from  the  dead,  as  a  testimony  to  His  “  un¬ 
changeable  priesthood.” 

This  is  the  view  given  us  by  the  Apostle  Paul, 
when  adverting  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  to 
the  call  of  Christ  as  a  high-priest.  Speaking  of  the 
sacred  office,  he  says,  “Ho  man  taketh  the  honour 
unto  himself,  but  when  he  is  called  by  God,  even 
as  was  Aaron.  Thus  Christ  also  did  not  glorify 
himself  to  be  made  a  high-priest ;  but  he  who  spoke 
to  him — 

‘  Thou  art  my  Son, 

To-day  have  I  begotten  thee.’  ”2 

How  these  words,  which  he  quotes  from  the 
2nd  Psalm,  refer,  we  know,  to  Messiah’s  resurrec¬ 
tion,  for  the  same  apostle  says  in  another  place, 

1  Romans  i.  4.  2  Hebrews  v.  4,  5. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF.  I  75 

“He  hath  raised  up  Jesus  again;  as  it  is  also 
written  in  the  2nd  Psalm — 

c  Thou  art  my  Son, 

To-clay  have  I  begotten  thee.’  ”  1 

Our  Lord  Himself  says  the  same  thing.  When, 
upon  His  driving  out  of  the  Temple  the  sheep  and 
oxen,  and  overturning  the  tables  of  the  money¬ 
changers,  the  Jews  demanded  a  sign  to  prove  His 
authority,  He  said  to  them,  “Destroy  this  temple, 
and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up ;  ”  and  He 
spake  thus  “  of  the  temple  of  his  body.”  2  Twice, 
upon  other  occasions,  when  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees  came  and  asked  for  a  sign  or  miracle  to 
establish  His  Messianic  claims,  He  replied,  “  An 
evil  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a  sign ; 
and  there  shall  no  sign  he  given  to  it  hut  the 
sign  of  the  prophet  Jonah,”  that  is,  as  our  Lord 
explains,  His  own  resurrection  from  the  dead  on 
the  third  day.3  This  is  still  the  one  sign,  the  one 
“  token  against  the  rebels,”  in  Israel. 

Christ’s  ascension  on  high,  and  constant  session 
on  the  Father’s  throne,  was  prefigured  by  the  lay¬ 
ing  up  of  “  Aaron’s  rod  again  before  the  testimony,” 
that  is,  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  which,  we  are  told, 
is  a  type  of  heaven.4  The  bringing  out  of  the  rod 

1  Acts  xiii.  33. 

3  Matthew  xii.  38-40;  xvi.  4. 


2  John  ii.  19,  21. 

4  Hebrews  ix.  7-12. 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


I  76 

once  more  “  from  before  Jehovah/5  to  work  further 
miracles,  very  fitly  foreshadows  our  Lord’s  second 
coming,  amidst  fresh  miraculous  signs,  with  power 
and  great  glory. 

Men  have  many  schemes  in  our  day  for  the 
regeneration  of  the  world,  plans  of  their  own 
devising  for  putting  an  end  to  the  miseries  which 
sin  has  brought  both  to  individuals  and  to  com- 
munities.  God’s  way,  however,  is  different,  and 
has  been  declared  plainly  from  the  first.  The  eyes 
of  Adam’s  ruined  children  have  been  directed  from 
the  days  of  our  first  parents  to  a  Personal  Be- 
deemer,  and  all  man’s  hopes  have  been  declared 
to  rest  upon  His  alone  help.  As  a  sinner  he  needs 
an  atonement,  and  Christ  has  therefore  become  his 
liigh-priest,  as  head  of  the  “family  which  is  named 
of  God  in  heaven  and  earth.”  Himself  the  innocent 
and  all-sufficient  Victim,  He  has  offered  up  once  for 
all  His  own  body,  and  by  that  “one  offering  hath 
perfected  for  ever  them  that  are  sanctified.”  Nor 
was  His  merciful  work  then  ended.  As  man’s 
high-priest  He  still  intercedes  for  man,  yea,  for 
this  purpose,  “  He  ever  livetli,”  and  more  especially 
to  procure  for  those  who  seek  Him  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  work  He  carries  on  now  unseen 
in  that  Heaven  which  must  receive  Him  “until  the 
times  of  the  restoration  of  all  things,  of  which  God 
spoke  through  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy  prophets 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


1/7 


since  the  world  began/’ 1  But  on  the  great  day  of 
atonement  the  high-priest,  after  sprinkling  the  blood 
on  the  mercy-seat  within  the  veil,  came  out  from  the 
Holy  of  Holies,  and  blessed  the  people  of  the  Lord. 
And  though  scoffers  are  crying,  “  Where  is  the  pro¬ 
mise  of  his  coming  ?  for  from  the  day  that  the  fathers 
fell  asleep  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from 
the  beginning  of  the  creation,”  He  will  come  again, 
and  “his  reward  shall  be  with  him.”  Bor  when 
He  thus  comes,  He  will  appear  in  His  true  character 
as  Zion’s  king.  He  reigns  even  now  in  the  hearts 
of  His  believing  people,  for  those  who  look  to  Him 
as  their  Saviour  serve  Him  as  their  Lord,  and  have 
already  experienced  the  protection  of  His  power. 
But  then  He  will  be  manifested  in  all  the  pomp 
and  might  of  His  mediatorial  kingdom.  When  the 
wicked  are  crying  “  peace  and  safety,”  and  setting 
up  the  standard,  soon  to  be  raised,  of  universally 
organised  revolt,  in  the  darkest  hour  of  the  night  of 
Jacob’s  trouble,  in  a  moment,  like  the  lightning’s 
flash,  or  the  ubiquitous  vulture’s  swoop  from  unseen 
heights,  He  will  come  in  the  unimaginable  glory  of 
the  Father.2  When  “his  feet  shall  stand  in  that 
day  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives,”  all  His  ancient 
people  Israel  shall  be  saved.3  The  throne  that 
shall  be  set  up  at  Jerusalem  shall  sway  a  ransomed 

1  Acts  iii.  2i.  2  Matthew  xxiv.  28. 

3  Zechariah  xiv.  1-11  ;  Romans  xi.  26. 

M 


I/S 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


world,  for  the  receiving  back  of  the  Jews  shall  be 
to  the  rest  of  mankind  as  “  life  from  the  dead.”  1 
International  politics  shall  no  longer  vex  the  world 
with  war,  for  the  Lord  Christ  will  rule,  “even 
in  the  midst  of  his  enemies,”  and  “  all  dominions 
shall  serve  and  obey  him  ”  The  problems  of  govern¬ 
ment  will  then  be  solved.  Oppression,  ignorance, 
want,  and  crime  shall  cease,  for  “  the  saints  of  the 
Most  High  shall  receive  the  kingdom,  and  shall 
possess  the  kingdom  for  ever ;  ”  yea,  “  the  kingdom 
and  dominion  and  the  greatness  of  the  kingdom 
under  the  whole  heaven  shall  be  given  to  the 
people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High.”  2 

Ho  less  than  this  is  the  glorious  prospect,  given 
us  alike  by  Isaiah,  the  evangelical  prophet,  and 
John,  the  prophet  -  evangelist,  of  that  millennial 
time  when  Jehovah  shall  fully  accomplish  the 
sending  forth  of  Messiah’s  “  strong  staff  out  of 
Zion.”  Almost  all  students  of  the  prophetic  word 
agree  in  believing  that  the  indications  of  its  glad 
approach  are  now  thickening  around  us.  The  Tal¬ 
mud  preserves  the  Jewish  tradition  that  the  present 
order  of  the  world  would  last  just  6000  years  ; 
2000  years  without  the  law,  2000  years  under  the 
law,  and  2000  years  under  Messiah;  and  to  this 
conclusion  the  teachers  of  Israel  were  evidently 


1  Romans  xi.  15. 

2  Daniel  vii.  18,  27.  See  also  Isaiah  xi.  1-9  ;  lx.  ;  lxii.  ;  lxvi.,  &c. 


THE  ANCESTRAL  STAFF. 


179 


led  by  those  scriptures  which  represent  a  thou¬ 
sand  years  in  God’s  sight  as  one  day.1  We  are 
undoubtedly  drawing  near  to  the  close  of  6000  years 
of  human  history — earth’s  week  of  working-days — 
for,  according  to  the  latest  and  best  calculations,  we 
have  reached  a  point  within  its  last  half  century, 
and  have  much  reason  to  believe  that  when  the 
seventh  thousand  year  dawns  it  will  be  the  com¬ 
mencement  of  the  long-foretold  Sabbath,  the  rest 
that  still  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.2  The 
shadows  of  evening  are  falling  fast  upon  the  day  of 
this  dispensation.  Turning,  therefore,  from  earthly 

1  Psalm  xc.  4 ;  2  Peter  iii.  8. 

2  The  exact  chronology  of  Scripture  in  the  wisdom  of  God  leaves 
two  short  breaks  or  chasms,  which  no  ingenuity  can  fill  up,  and 
which  prevent  our  calculating  with  certainty  the  age  of  the  world. 
The  first  of  these  breaks  is  from  the  death  of  Moses  to  the  servitude 
under  the  Midianites,  containing  the  government  of  Joshua  and  the 
elders,  and  the  interregnum  that  followed  (Joshua  xxiv.  31).  The 
second  uncertain  interval  is  that  which  occurred  between  the  death 
of  Samson  and  the  election  of  Saul,  including  the  governments  of 
Eli  and  Samuel.  “  From  forty  to  sixty  years,”  says  Mr.  H.  Grattan 
Guinness  in  his  very  able  work,  The  Approaching  End  of  the  Age, 
“comprises  in  all  probability  the  range  of  the  uncertain  in  the 
whole  extent  of  Bible  chronology.”  Mr.  Fynes  Clinton’s  deeply 
learned  work  on  chronology,  Fasti  Hellenici,  from  the  simple  state¬ 
ments  of  Scripture,  places  the  creation  of  the  world  four  thousand 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  years  before  Christ,  instead  of  four 
thousand  and  four  years,  as  is  generally  supposed,  and  this  gives  us 
six  thousand  and  eighteen  years  as  the  present  age  of  the  world, 
which,  allowing  for  an  error  of  forty  to  sixty  years  as  above,  is  in 
all  probability  approximately  true. 


I  80  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

schemes,  which  must  end  in  failure,  let  us  patiently 
wait  for  the  Master’s  return  with  renewed  hope 
and  redoubled  watchfulness.  The  best  preservative 
amidst  the  peculiar  perils  and  trials  of  the  “last 
days,”  is  to  be  found  in  looking  for  our  King,  and 
preparing  to  meet  Him ;  our  prayer  that  of  the  rapt 
divine,  “Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly.” 


CHAPTEE  YII. 


THE  ORANGE. 

“As  an  orange  tree  among  the  trees  of  the  rocky - 
mountain  -forest, 

So  is  my  beloved  among  the  sons. 

I  sit  down  under  his  shadow  with  eager  desire, 

And  his  fruit  is  sweet  to  my  taste.” 

— Canticles  ii.  3. 

To  those  who  believe  in  the  plenary  inspiration  of 
Holy  Scripture,  each  term  which  forms  a  part  of  the 
original  text  is  of  very  great  interest.  Immense 
force  or  beauty  will  often  he  found  to  underlie  a 
single  word  in  that  volume  which,  to  the  spiritually- 
enlightened,  is  at  once  the  simplest  and  the  deepest 
of  hooks.  Eor  this  reason  some  knowledge  of 
Hebrew,  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  Palestine 
life, — the  peculiar  products  and  primitive  practices 
of  the  land, — to  a  lover  of  the  Bible  are  privileges 
most  important  to  possess,  and  imparting  the  richest 
enjoyment. 

Such  thoughts  naturally  occur  in  considering 
the  above  allegory.  The  tree  there  referred  to, 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


182 

rendered  in  this  and  in  every  other  passage 
where  it  occurs  in  our  version,  “the  apple  tree,” 
has  long  exercised  the  ingenuity  of  thoughtful 
and  earnest  commentators,  and  not  without  good 
reason.  While  all  inspired  illustrations  are  im¬ 
portant,  those  which  have  been  chosen  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  set  forth  the  glorious  attributes  of  Christ 
may  well  be  regarded  as  specially  worthy  of  investi¬ 
gation.  That  this  is  a  figure  applied  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  we  cannot  doubt.  It  has  always  been  held 
by  the  Church,  both  before  and  since  His  coming, 
that  the  Bridegroom  of  the  Song  of  Solomon,  He 
Whose  “  name  is  as  ointment  poured  forth,”  that  is, 
Messiah,  the  anointed  one,  is  the  Christ  of  God.1 
Truly  “  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  here.”  He  Whose 
person  and  work  are  its  principal  subjects,  and 
Who,  all  glorious  and  all  good,  forms  the  central 
figure  in  every  scene,  if  indeed  Canticles  be  really 
part  of  the  Sacred  Canon,  can  be  none  other  than 
Israel’s  Divine  King.  Doubtless  He  Himself  thus 
declared,  when  in  those  discourses,  to  which  they 
must  have  listened  with  so  much  delight,  He 
“  expounded  ”  to  His  disciples  “  in  all  the  Scriptures 
the  things  concerning  Himself.”  Those  who  have 
loved  their  Lord  best  in  every  succeeding  age  have 
endorsed  the  saying  of  the  ancient  Jewish  rabbis , 
that,  if  Solomon’s  Proverbs  be  likened  to  lead,  and 

1  Canticles  i.  3. 


THE  ORANGE. 


183 

his  Ecclesiastes  to  silver,  his  Song  must  be  com¬ 
pared  to  pure  gold.  It  is  in  the  highest  sense  “  the 
song  of  songs  which  is  Solomon’s,”  or,  to  give  the 
full  force  of  this  strong  Hebrew  superlative,  “the 
chiefest  and  best  of  songs.” 

“  The  song  that's  all  songs  above, 

Longer,  deeper,  fuller,  higher, 

Sweeter  than  the  psalmist’s  lyre, 

The  breathing  of  nought  hut  love  ; 

Love  that  is  strong  with  strength  divine, 

Meet  for  thy  depths,  thou  soul  of  mine  ! 

Sought  for  in  vain  from  the  creature  too  long, 
Painless,  and  deathless, — 0  beautiful  song  ! 

“  Monarch  hands  the  measures  trace, 

Wisest  child  of  mortal  race, 

Shelomoh,  a  king  of  kings, 

Shelomok,  whose  glory  brings 
Shadow  faint  of  fairer  things. 

For  the  burning  words  of  bliss 
Speak  a  fulness  more  than  his  ; 

All  the  sweets  that  strew  the  song, 

Prince  of  Peace,  to  thee  belong, 

Moves  its  kindling,  melting  fire 
From  thy  heart,  0  King  Messiah  !  ” 

But  though  the  just  importance  of  the  inspired 
allegory  which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  chapter 
has  been  owned  as  undoubtedly  applying  to  Christ, 
its  difficulty  has  been  equally  felt.  So  little  was 
known  from  actual  experience  of  the  “  fruitful  trees  ” 
of  the  Holy  Land,  and  such  excellent  things  were 


184  '  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

said  of  this  particular  kind — things  which  could 
apply  to  no  one  species  with  which  we  are  familiar 
in  the  north-west — that  it  wTas  almost  impossible 
to  decide  the  question.  Dr.  Kitto  would  have  us 
understand  it  to  he  the  citron.  Deriving  the  Hebrew 
name  tappooaiih}  from  naphahh,  “  to  breathe,”  he 
calls  attention  to  the  ‘  delicious  and  powerful  fra¬ 
grance  that  breathes  from  every  part  of  the  citron 
tree.  He  also  alludes  to  the  fact  that  Oriental 
ladies  have  the  fruit  often  in  their  hands,  or  within 
reach,  and  employ  it  for  much  the  same  purpose  as 
their  western  sisters  would  use  a  vinaigrette.  When 
the  rind  is  slightly  scraped  or  bruised,  the  perfume 
is  strongly  given  out.  He  might  have  added  that 
the  Jews,  both  men  and  women,  still  make  a  similar 
use  of  this  fruit  during  the  rejoicings  of  the  feast 
of  Tabernacles.  Each  one  strives  to  obtain  a  large 
specimen  without  a  single  blemish,  and  having  the 
stalk  adhering  to  it,  for  which,  in  lands  like 
Palestine,  distant  from  its  general  cultivation,  a 
very  high  price  has  to  be  paid.  Dr.  Thomson 
appears  to  be  in  error  in  stating  that  the  citron  is 
“  too  small  and  straggling  to  make  a  shade,”  for  like 
most  of  the  trees  of  that  genus  it  grows  to  a  con¬ 
siderable  size,  and  is  well  calculated,  by  means  of 
its  long  stout  leaves,  to  form  a  fine  natural  protec¬ 
tion  from  the  sun.  He  is,  however,  strictly  right 

1  man. 


THE  ORANGE. 


185 


in  asserting  that  its  fruits  are  “  so  hard  and  indi- 
gestible  that  they  cannot  be  used  except  when  made 
into  preserves.”  This,  therefore,  cannot  be  the  tree 
whose  fruit  is  sweet  to  the  taste.1 

The  last-mentioned  author,  in  his  Land  and  the 
Booh ,  would  maintain  in  all  its  strictness  the  render¬ 
ing  of  our  authorised  version.  Tor  this  he  relies 
on  the  similarity  of  the  Arabic  colloquial  term  for 
apple,  toophahh,  and  the  Hebrew  i tajypooahh?  He 

1  Canticles  ii.  3. 

2  It  would  certainly  seem  that  the  Arabic  toophaJih  is  the  modern 
form  of  the  word  tappooalih  in  Hebrew.  But  there  is  a  special 
reason  why,  in  the  case  of  the  word  “apple,”  we  should  not  lay  that 
stress  upon  the  colloquial  use  of  the  present  Arabic  term  which 
might  reasonably  be  laid  on  such  a  use  in  the  case  of  another  word. 
In  old  English  the  word  “  apple  ”  had  a  very  general  significance, 
applying  indefinitely  to  any  round  fruit.  The  expression  “  apple  of 
the  eye,”  which  occurs  five  times  in  our  version,  is  an  instance  of 
this  usage.  It  has  been  well  remarked,  “  No  word  is  more  loosely 
used  than  this  and  all  its  equivalents  in  various  languages.  For 
instance,  the  Homans  called  almost  every  kind  of  globular  fruit 
pomum,  apples,  pears,  peaches,  cherries,  &c.,  not  even  walnuts 
excepted  ;  and  we  ourselves  speak  of  love-apples,  earth-apples,  oak- 
apples,  and  pine-apples,  when  we  mean  the  tomato,  the  tuberous 
root  of  the  bunium,  the  spongy  excrescence  which  grows  on  the 
leaves  and  branches  of  the  oak,  or  the  most  exquisite  of  all  fruits, 
the  Peruvian  ananassa  ”  ( Fairbairn’s  Bible  Dictionary  —  article 
Apple).  In  Latin,  too,  under  the  name  malum,  “  apple,”  the 
Romans  included  also  quinces,  pomegranates,  pears,  and  citrons ; 
and  Virgil’s  “  aurea  mala  ”  were  probably  golden  oranges.  These 
last,  far  more  likely  than  the  quince,  which  is  generally  green 
rather  than  yellow,  afforded  “  the  golden  apple  ”  that  Discord  is 
described  as  casting  on  the  table  at  the  marriage  of  Thetis  and 
Peleus,  and  which,  through  the  award  of  Paris,  was  the  fabled 


1 86 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


speaks  of  but  one  place  in  the  Holy  Land, 
Askelon,  as  producing  this  fruit  in  perfection.  If 
a  really  good  native  apple  flourishes  there,  which 
I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain,  it  must  be  about 
the  only  spot  in  Palestine  where  this  is  found  to  be 
the  case.  The  best  Syrian  apples  at  Jerusalem 
come  all  the  way  from  Damascus.  They  are  the 
only  eatable  ones  that  I  have  met  with,  and  though 
of  a  bright  crimson  and  yellow  colour,  are  small, 
and  far  inferior  to  ours.  I  never  ate  good  apples 
in  any  part  of  the  Holy  Land,  except  at  Wady 
JJrtas,  near  Bethlehem,  in  the  “  watered  gardens  ” 
belonging  to  the  late  Mr.  Meshullam,  and  these  were 
from  foreign  varieties  freshly  grafted.  This  ex¬ 
perienced  horticulturist  assured  me,  as  the  result  of 
his  five  and  twenty  years  of  fruit  culture  there, 
that  the  apple,  when  thus  introduced,  in  a  few 
years  entirely  deteriorates.  The  fact  is  plain  that 
the  heat  of  all  southern  parts  of  Palestine,  even  in 
the  highest  mountain  districts,  is  far  too  great 
to  permit  of  its  reaching  perfection.  In  some 
loftier  and  cooler  regions  on  the  Lebanon  range  it 
may  do  better;  and  Dr.  Tristram,  when  describing 

cause  of  the  fall  of  Troy.  Oranges,  too,  may  have  given  rise  to 
the  legend  of  the  golden  apples  which  hung  in  the  garden  of  the 
Hesperides.  The  very  same  general  use  of  the  word  “apple” 
existed  amongst  the  Greeks,  who  called  an  apricot  an  “  Armenian 
apple,”  an  orange  “  a  Persian  apple,”  and  so  forth. 


THE  ORANGE. 


I  87 

a  ride  near  Baalbec,  shows  ns  under  what  conditions 
this  must  he  sought.  “  It  was  interesting,”  he  says, 
“  to  notice  how  the  change  of  vegetation  registered 
our  increasing  elevation.  We  had  long  since  lost 
the  olive.  Now  the  apricot  became  scarce,  and  the 
apple  took  its  place.” 

This  accomplished  botanist  has  come  to  “  the 
conviction  that  the  apricot,  Mushmushah ,  alone  is 
the  apple  of  Scripture.”  It  is  true  that  it  grows 
abundantly  in  high  parts  of  the  country,  and  yields 
much  fruit.  It  flourishes,  however,  more  especially 
around  Damascus,  where  the  fine  orchards  consist 
for  the  most  part  of  apricots,  and  extend  for  a 
circuit  of  many  leagues,  giving  the  glittering  city, 
to  the  Eastern  imagination,  the  appearance  of  “  a 
diamond  set  in  emeralds.”  No  doubt  in  these  wide 
woods  many  fine  specimens  are  here  and  there  to 
be  found,  beneath  which  Dr.  Tristram  might  meet 
with  considerable  shade.  But  in  most  instances 
this  tree  is  far  from  affording  a  good  protection 
from  the  sun,  and  would  never  be  sought  by  a 
Syrian  for  this  purpose.  The  fruit,  on  an  average 
not  so  large  as  a  good-sized  English  plum,  is  far 
inferior  to  ours,  and  often  comparatively  tasteless. 
It  is  whitish-yellow  and  pink,  but  not  of  a  golden 
hue.  When  dried  in  the  sun,  or  made  into  a  paste 
for  preservation  until  the  winter  months,  it  is  perhaps 
best.  The  fruit  is  thus  prepared  in  large  quantities 


i  88 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


% 


everywhere  throughout  the  East.  In  its  natural 
state  it  is  not  particularly  wholesome.  Under  the 
most  careful  cultivation  at  the  Urtas  gardens  it 
soon  deteriorates,  and  the  only  really  good  apricots 
I  have  eaten  in  Jerusalem  were,  like  the  apples, 
from  fresh  foreign  grafts.  The  climate  of  the  greater 
part  of  Palestine  is  too  hot  and  dry  for  both  these 
trees,  though  the  former  suffers  less  than  the  latter. 
There  is  indeed  a  faint  delicate  scent  possessed  by 
the  ripe  fruit  of  the  apricot,  but  little  or  none  by 
its  blossom  or  leaf. 

Now,  it  may  be  asked,  is  there  no  tree  answering 
fully  to  the  description  of  the  “  apple  ”  of  Scripture, 
which,  like  the  olive,  vine,  fig,  and  pomegranate,  is 
thoroughly  at  home  in,  if  not  indigenous  to,  the 
soil  ?  Is  there  no  tree  of  this  kind  that  flourishes 
commonly  and  luxuriantly  in  Palestine  under  per¬ 
fectly  congenial  conditions  ?  All  who  have  resided 
for  any  length  of  time  in  the  Holy  Land  will,  I 
think,  agree  with  the  reply,  that  certainly  there  is 
just  such  a  tree.  The  orange,  in  all  its  numerous 
choice  varieties,  is  the  rightful  representative  of  the 
tappooahh,  or  “  apple  ”  of  Scripture. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  proof  of  this,  let  us 
distinctly  inquire  what  are  the  marks  by  which 
the  tree  may  be  known.  Briefly  these  are  four  : 
pleasant  and  powerful  perfume ;  sweet  and  grateful 
fruit ;  foliage  which  affords  a  delightful  shade ;  and 


THE  ORANGE. 


189 


a  golden  colour,  which  seems  to  refer  to  the  fruit, 
or  to  the  tree  as  seen  covered  with  it.  It  is  said 
of  the  bride  in  Solomon’s  Song— 

“  And  the  fragrance  of  thy  nose  [is]  like  the  tappoohheem .” 1 

Of  the  Bridegroom  of  the  Church  it  is  declared  by 
His  people — 

“As  a  tappooahh  among  the  trees  of  the  rocky 
mountain  brushwood, 

So  is  my  beloved  among  the  sons. 

I  sit  down  under  his  shadow  with  eager  desire.”2 

To  this  it  is  immediately  added — 

“  And  liis  fruit  is  sweet  to  my  taste.” 

The  intimation  as  to  its  colour  is  given  in  a  truly 
Oriental  proverb  concerning  wise  and  courteous 
speech — 

“  A  word  spoken  on  its  wheels 
Is  like  tappoohheem  of  gold  in  engraved  work  of 
silver.”  3 

How  all  these  four  requisites  meet  in  a  very  high 
degree  in  the  orange,  and  in  that  tree  alone.  It 
must  be  seen  in  the  full  luxuriance  of  its  growth 
in  Syria  to  realise  its  excellence.  It  may  be  met 
with  in  many  “  watered  gardens  ”  throughout  the 
hill  country,  but  its  true  home  is  on  the  warm 

1  Canticles  vii.  8.  Tappoohheem  is  the  plural  of  tappooahh. 

2  Canticles  ii.  3.  3  Proverbs  xxv.  11. 


190 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


maritime  plains,  where  it  is  now  principally  culti¬ 
vated.  Here,  at  Jaffa,  the  ancient  Joppa,  and  at 
Sidon,  are  vast  orange  orchards.  The  sandy  plain 
that  forms  the  site  of  Jaffa,  at  a  depth  of  from  fifty 
to  eighty  feet,  supplies  the  water  which  is  required 
to  irrigate  the  groves, — the  supply  appearing  to 
come  from  a  wide  subterranean  river  flowing  at 
this  depth  beneath  the  ground.  In  large  orchards, 
called  in  Arabic  bayarah,  oranges  of  many  sorts 
are  extensively  cultivated,  interspersed  with  a  few 
lemons,  citrons,  pomegranates,  bananas,  and  date- 
palms,  the  whole  forming  a  scene  of  surpassing 
fertility  and  loveliness,  which  is  guarded  by  a  hedge 
of  the  gigantic  prickly  pear  ( Caches  ficus  indicct). 
This  dull,  light  green,  weird-looking  hedge  serves 
the  more  to  set  off  the  dark,  glossy,  and  abundant 
foliage  of  the  orange  tree.  The  latter  attains  a 
very  considerable  size,  and  its  thick  shining  leaves 
spread  a  secure  and  delightful  shade.  Beneath  its 
branches  may  constantly  be  seen  the  usual  low  cane 
stools  placed  for  the  accommodation  of  the  owner 
and  his  friends.  Of  all  the  trees  of  the  garden  this 
is  the  one  chosen  for  shade.  Nothing  could  be 
more  natural  than  the  declaration — 

“  I  sit  down  under  liis  shadow  with  eager  desire.”  A 
The  fruit  is  one  of  the  most  delicious  and  service- 

1  Canticles  ii.  3. 


THE  ORANGE. 


19  I 

able  of  all  the  productions  of  Palestine,  and,  while 
forming  a  nourishing  article  of  food,  is  at  the  same 
time  a  natural  preservative  from  fever.  It  is  abun¬ 
dant  as  soon  as  the  grapes  are  over,  and  lasts  almost 
until  they  come  again.  It  greatly  excels  the  fruit 
received  in  this  country  from  abroad,  which  has  to 
be  packed  in  an  unripe  condition.  The  varieties 
are  well  marked.  The  blood  orange,  which,  when 
peeled,  is  of  a  deep  crimson  colour,  is  the  sweetest, 
but  the  cultivation  of  this  sort  is  now  mostly  con¬ 
fined  to  Egypt.  There  is  one  very  large  species, 
with  an  enormously  thick  rind,  which  attains  the 
size  of  a  small  bread  melon,  an  excellent  fruit, 
which  is  not  known  in  England.  The  orange  is 
especially  grateful  in  Bible  lands.  Like  the  pro¬ 
duce  of  the  vine  it  is  most  wholesome  in  its  season, 
and  may  be  freely  eaten  so  long  as  care  is  taken  not 
to  drink  water  afterwards,  for  neglect  of  this  pre¬ 
caution  is,  with  any  fruit  in  Palestine,  a  sure  source 
of  fever.  “  Abounding  in  malic  and  citric  acid,  the 
juice  of  the  orange  and  its  congeners  is  one  of  the 
most  agreeable  antidotes  which  the  Creator’s  bounty 
has  provided  against  the  exhausting  thirst  and 
incipient  fever  of  sultry  climes.  A  settler  in  the 
torrid  swamps  of  the  Amazon  will  devour  a  dozen 
oranges  before  his  morning  meal,  and  in  tropical 
regions  such  acidulous  fruits  are  invaluable  on 


192 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


account  of  their  anti-febrile  virtues.”  1  Only  one 
like  the  poor,  weary,  sunburnt  slave-girl  in  the 
Song  of  Songs,  who  has  been  exposed  to  the  heat, 
and  consequent  thirst,  of  toil  beneath  a  burning 
Syrian  sky,  can  understand  how  sweet  they  are  at 
such  a  time  to  the  taste.2 

The  fragrance  of  its  flowers  is  well  known,  but 
the  alternate  tropical  rains  and  hot  sun  of  a  Syrian 
plain  serve  to  increase  it  to  a  remarkable  extent. 
As  in  most  trees  of  this  order,  fruit,  leaves,  and 
flowers  are  alike  scented,  but  more  especially  the 
latter.  They  lend  the  most  delicious  perfume  to 
the  groves  of  orange,  and  one  which  is  wafted  to 
a  great  distance.  In  certain  winds  it  is  perceived 
by  ships  off  Jaffa,  several  miles  away  from  the 
shore.  It  is  a  singularly  refreshing  and  reviving 
scent.  A  consideration  of  this  excellent  property 
of  the  Scripture  “  apple  ”  sheds  a  flood  of  light 
on  a  passage  which  would  otherwise  be  meaning¬ 
less.  The  bride  in  the  Song  of  Songs,  who  is  repre¬ 
sented  as  faint  with  excessive  emotion,  cries — 

il  Straw  me  with  tappoohheemj 
For  I  am  faint  with  love.”3 

In  our  version  the  first  line  of  this  verse  reads — 

“  Comfort  me  with  apples.” 


1  Fairbairri  s  Dictionary  of  the  Bible — article  Apple. 

2  Canticles  i.  5,  6  ;  ii.  3.  3  Canticles  ii.  5. 


THE  ORANGE. 


193 


But  the  rendering  which  I  have  here  given  is 
that  adopted  by  the  Septuagint,  and  is  the  one  re¬ 
quired  by  the  verb  rapfiad,  “  to  spread/’  in  the  only 
two  other  passages  where  it  occurs.1  Now,  the  idea 
of  spreading  over  a  bride  either  branch,  blossom, 
or  fruit  of  the  apple  tree,  possesses  no  significance 
whatever.  But  if  we  supply  the  name  of  the  true 
tree  in  question,  do  we  not  see  at  once  the  appro¬ 
priateness  of  the  exclamation, 

“  Straw  me  with  orange,” 

or,  as  it  is  literally,  “  [pieces  of]  orange  trees,”  for 
this  word  applies  equally  to  the  tree  and  its 
blossom  as  well  as  to  its  fruit  ?  This  is  just  what 
is  done  to  a  bride  down  to  the  present  day,  and 
here  surely  we  have  the  natural  Eastern  origin  of 
the  customary  bridal  wreath !  It  would  appear  that 
on  such  occasions  the  orange  flower  was  not  formerly 
in  the  East,  as  it  now  is  in  the  West,  a  mere  orna¬ 
ment,  but  played  an  important  part  in  the  wedding 
costume. 

A  difficulty  has  been  felt  in  accounting  for  the 
choice  in  Northern  lands  of  an  exotic  flower  for  the 
garland  of  a  bride,  and  recently  the  question  has 
been  asked  in  some  horticultural* journals,  “Whence 
has  it  arisen?”  The  answer  is,  that  this  practice 

1  see  Job  xvii.  13  ;  xli.  30. 

N 


194 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


would  seem  plainly  to  have  come  with  our  race 
from  its  Eastern  cradle.  Mr.  J.  Timbs  tells  us, 
“  The  use  of  these  flowers  (orange  blossoms)  at 
bridals  is  said  to  have  been  derived  from  the 
Saracens,  or  at  least  from  the  East,  and  they  are 
believed  to  have  been  thus  employed  as  emblems  of 
fecundity.”1  But  the  Word  of  God,  as  we  have 
shown,  quite  incidentally  gives  the  true  and  far 
more  simple  reason,  namely,  that  they  were  employed 
as  affording  a  powerful  perfume  to  revive  the  bride 
from  a  natural  faintness.  The  strong  refreshing  per¬ 
fume  of  the  orange  blossom,  when  newly  gathered, 
would  appear  to  have  led  to  its  adoption  as  a  bridal 
adornment,  not  only  perhaps  for  the  crown  or 
wreath,  but  also  as  a  beautiful  and  appropriate 
addition  to  other  parts  of  the  dress.  It  is  so  employed 
in  Palestine  wherever  it  can  be  had  at  the  present 
time.  Thus  there  is  provided,  as  it  were,  a  natural 
scent-bottle,  the  pungent  and  reviving  fragrance  of 
which  sustains  the  fainting  spirits  of  the  sensitive 
maiden,  who  might  otherwise  be  overcome  with 
emotion.  The  great  length  of  time  during  which 
this  tree  is  in  flower  singularly  fits  it  for  the 
purpose  by  enabling  its  blossoms  to  be  constantly 
obtained.  Taking  the  various  kinds  which  follow 
each  other  in  succession,  it  may  be  said  to  be  in 
bloom  almost  the  whole  twelve  months.  Indeed 

1  Things  not  Generally  Known ,  First  Series,  p.  119. 


TIIE  ORANGE. 


195 


it  is  a  peculiar  excellence  of  the  orange,  that  leaves , 
flowers ,  fruit  continue  on  the  tree  together  for 

the  greater  part  of  the  year,  so  that  it  is  constantly 
putting  forth  its  fulness  of  leafage,  fruitage,  and  per¬ 
fume  at  the  same  time.  This  remarkable  feature  has 
been  noticed  by  Addison’s  Spectator  in  an  interesting 
allegorical  letter  on  “  A  Fine  Garden.”  The  writer 
says  :  “  It  rarely  happens  to  find  a  plant  vigorous 
enough  to  have,  like  an  orange  tree,  at  once  beautiful 
and  shining  leaves,  fragrant  flowers,  and  delicious 
nourishing  fruit.”  1 

Let  us  remember  that  the  words, 

“  Straw  me  with  orange, 

For  I  am  faint  with  love,” 

occur  as  an  illustration  of  that  fervour  of  deep 
affection  with  which  the  Church  longs  for  the 
Heavenly  Bridegroom,  and  with  which  each  believing 
soul  in  some  precious  moments  faints  for  the  love 
of  Jesus,  and  the  desire  that  it  has  to  depart  and 
be  with  the  Lord.  The  world  may  ridicule  as  mere 
enthusiasm  the  rich  experiences  of  the  believer ; 
but  Jehovah,  Who  “seeth  not  as  man  seeth,”  and 
Who  “  looketh  on  the  heart,”  so  far  from  counting 
these  feelings  as  vain  or  imaginary,  has  written 
them  down  as  real,  and  has  chosen  the  boldest  and 
choicest  figures  to  set  them  forth. 


1  Spectator,  No.  455. 


196 


PALESTINE  EXPLOEED. 


The  wise  man  tells  us  that 

“  A  word  spoken  on  its  wheels 
Is  like  oranges  ( 'tappoohheem )  of  gold  in  engraved 
work  of  silver.” 1 

May  not  this  verse  contain  an  allusion  to  the 
peculiar  feature  of  the  orange,  namely,  its  flowers 
and  fruit  continuing  on  the  tree  together  throughout 
the  whole  season  ?  The  orange  blossom  is  a  brilliant 
white,  resembling  the  colour  of  the  molten  silver  so 
much  employed  in  Oriental  jewellery.  As  the  rich 
ripe  fruit  is  constantly  seen  peeping  out  amid 
clusters  of  the  shining  bloom,  it  is  naturally  to 
an  Eastern  imagination  as  “  oranges  of  gold  in 
engraved  work  of  silver.”  This  may  have  given 
rise  to  a  custom,  possibly  existing  in  former  times 
amongst  the  great,  of  serving  the  fruit  in  baskets  of 
silver  filagree.  But  it  is  more  natural  to  suppose 
that  the  beauty  and  excellence  of  the  flower- 
encircled  produce,  as  it  still  hung  on  the  tree,  is 
that  which  is  here  used  as  a  figure  of  the  exceeding 
comeliness  of  a  wise  and  gentle  employment  of 
man’s  unruly  tongue. 

The  word  ojolmeem ,2  “  wheels,”  which  occurs  no¬ 
where  else  but  in  the  expression, 

“  A  word  spoken  on  its  wheels,” 


1  Proverbs  xxv.  11.  Lowth  translates  it  “in  network  of  silver  ;  ” 

it  is  literally  “  in  figured  work  masJceeth j  of  silver.” 

2  D'iDK 

•  •  T 


THE  ORANGE. 


197 


lias  been  taken  by  some  to  contain  the  idea  of 
revolving  as  of  the  year,  and  hence  the  translation 
of  the  line  in  onr  version, 

“  A  word  spoken  in  season.” 

But  it  is  plain  that  here  it  simply  means  a  literal 
“  wheel,”  as  the  similar  form  of  the  word  oaphcin 1 
does  in  every  instance,  and  so  our  translators  render 
it  in  the  margin.  In  this  case 

“  A  word  spoken  on  its  wheels,” 

in  the  figurative  language  of  the  East,  would  seem 
to  imply  “  a  smooth,  graceful,  courteous  word.”  The 
statement  is  thus  brought  into  perfect  accord  with 
the  proverbial  philosophy  not  only  of  the  Scriptures, 
but  also  of  all  Eastern  lands  at  the  present  day. 
Throughout  the  Orient  the  greatest  importance  is 
attached  to  politeness  and  smoothness  of  speech,  which 
is  exaggerated  into  countless  customary  compliments, 
which  pass  current  among  people  of  all  classes,  and 
involve  much  fulsome  flattery  and  waste  of  time. 
Even  in  a  common  Eastern  legal  document,  such  as 
the  conveyance  of  a  house  or  a  piece  of  land,  after 
the  mention  of  any  of  the  parties  to  the  deed,  there 
is  added,  in  the  case  of  the  most  ordinary  individuals, 
“  the  most  honourable,  the  boast  of  his  community, 
the  light  of  his  sect,”  and  further  epithets  in  the 


1  |B1K. 


198 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


same  strain.  Tlie  cursing  and  abusive  language 
which  is  heard  side  by  side  with  this  when  a 
Syrian  is  angry,  only  serves  to  heighten  it  by  the 
contrast.  Protestant  Christians  in  these  lands  have 
agreed  in  their  intercourse  and  correspondence  con¬ 
siderably  to  curtail  the  number  of  these  compli¬ 
ments,  and  to  do  away  with  all  that  savours  of 
exaggeration  or  insincerity.  Still,  wTith  that  depth 
of  true  wisdom,  which  is  at  once  worldly-wise  and 
lieavenly-true,  our  attention  is  thus  beautifully 
called  to  the  pleasantness,  sweetness,  and  profit¬ 
ableness  of  courteous  and  conciliatory  speech. 

The  Apostle  Paul  affords  a  very  excellent  example 
of  such  tact  and  delicacy  in  the  use  of  language, 
even  when  called  upon  to  administer  severe  re¬ 
proofs.  It  has  been  well  said  that  in  his  inspired 
correspondence  he  mingles  “good  sense  and  good 
taste  with  good  things.”  Thus,  while  most  faith- 
fully  rebuking  the  Corinthian  Church,  he  speaks 
“  truth  in  love,”  and  does  so  after  such  a  gentle 
manner,  and  with  such  “  wise  meekness,”  that  they 
are  convinced  and  moved,  and  all  comes  happily 
right.  They  sorrow  after  a  godly  manner,  and  in 
all  things  approve  themselves  to  be  clear  in  the 
matter.1 

It  may  be  noticed,  in  connection  with  the 
explanation  afforded  by  the  silvery  blossom,  that 


1  2  Corinthians  vii.  8-1 1. 


THE  ORANGE. 


I99 


a  similar  figure  lias  passed  into  an  idiom  in  our 
English  tongue,  namely,  “flowery  language,”  and 
“flowers  of  speech.”  Well  is  it  for  us  when,  in 
all  our  intercourse  with  others,  the  golden  orange 
of  good  matter  is  seen  set  off  by  the  fair  silvern 
flowers  of  a  good  manner  !  Some  earnest  Christians 
do  not  attach  to  this  subject  the  importance  it 
undoubtedly  deserves. 

The  great  vitality  and  longevity  of  the  orange 
are  specially  worthy  of  remark.  Its  vigorous,  almost 
unexampled  life,  in  maintaining  thick  shining  foli¬ 
age,  abundant  fragrant  flowers,  and  luscious  fruit, 
all  at  the  same  time,  has  been  already  mentioned. 
To  this  it  should  be  added  that  the  tree  is  known 
to  attain  a  very  great  age,  and  to  continue  to  a 
late  period  its  marvellous  fecundity.  In  the  orangery 
at  Versailles,  one  tree  bears  the  inscription,  “  semd 
en  1421,”  “sown  in  1421;”  while  another  in  the 
yard  of  the  convent  of  St.  Sabina,  at  Rome,  is  said 
to  have  been  planted  in  the  year  1200.  In  Holland 
many  orange  trees  still  flourishing  are  said  to  have 
been  in  the  same  family  for  two  hundred  and  three 
hundred  years.  Even  in  Europe  an  aged  tree  has 
been  known  to  yield  nearly  eight  thousand  oranges 
a  year.  Well  does  this  intense  vitality  fit  the 
orange  to  illustrate  the  excellency  of  Him  Whose 
earliest  earthly  symbol  was  Eden’s  Tree  of  Life, 
yea,  Who  is  the  Life  itself — Essential  Life — and 


200 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Who  has  come  down  from  heaven  that  we,  though 
dead  in  sins,  might  receive  this  life  from  Him,  and 
enjoy  it  abundantly ! 1 

Some  have  imagined  that  the  orange  is  not  in¬ 
digenous  to  the  soil  of  Syria  and  the  adjacent  parts, 
and  allege  the  fact  that  the  colloquial  Arabic  name 
in  Palestine,  bourdikan ,  is  apparently  a  modern  cor¬ 
ruption  of  the  Italian,  Portugal .  But  to  this  it  may 
be  conclusively  replied  that  the  colloquial  Arabic 
name  for  carriage  everywhere  throughout  Syria  is 
Carrosa,  evidently  an  adaptation  of  the  Italian.  Yet 
who  can  doubt  that  in  past  generations  the  people 
were  familiar  with  chariots  and  wheeled  vehicles, 
which  are  mentioned  so  often  in  the  Bible  ?  There 
is  a  very  interesting  tradition  throwing  light  on  this 
point,  which  is  preserved  among  the  Beni  Sakk’r 
tribe  of  Bedaween  Arabs,  the  largest  and  most 
powerful  of  those  which  inhabit  the  Belka,  or  high¬ 
land  of  Moab.  It  purports  to  account  for  their 
first  emigration  from  the  depths  of  the  Arabian 
peninsula,  owing  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  tribe’s 
flourishing  settlement  by  a  disastrous  flood.  They 
speak  most  distinctly  of  their  ancestors  pursuing 

1  John  xiv.  6  ;  x.  io.  It  is  not  without  special  significance  that 
the  orange  used  as  a  figure  of  Christ,  and  the  olive  employed  as  a 
symbol  of  His  Church  (Romans  xi.  17,  24,  &c.),  are  both  alike  dis¬ 
tinguished  for  vital  tenacity,  abundant  productiveness,  and  length 
of  days  above  all  other  fruit-trees. 


THE  ORANGE. 


201 


the  cultivation  of  the  orange  many  ages  ago.  Dr. 
Tristram  says  :  “  There  is  a  curious  tradition  relative 
to  the  Beni  Saltier  (Sons  of  the  Falcon),  that  about 
twelve  hundred  years  since  they  left  their  cradle  in 
the  centre  of  Arabia ;  that  their  forefathers  lived 
there  in  a  district  very  like  that  of  M’zab ,  in  the 
African  Sahara,  where  there  were  no  springs,  hut 
where  the  water  was  collected  into  enormous  tanks 
by  walls  built  across  the  ivaclys  (valleys) ;  and 
by  these  means  gardens,  palm  groves,  and  orange 
orchards  were  fertilised.”  1  The  orange  tree  is  thus 
coupled  with  the  palm  in  a  passage  in  Joel,  where 
they  are  mentioned,  together  with  the  olive,  the  vine, 
the  fig,  and  the  pomegranate,  as  some  of  the  principal 
fruit-trees  of  the  land.  The  prophet  cries — - 

“  The  oil  languishes  ; 

•  •  •  •  • 

The  vine  is  dried  np, 

And  the  fig  tree  languishes  ; 

The  pomegranate  and  the  palm  and  the  orange, 

All  the  trees  of  the  field  are  withered.” 2 

This  appears  to  me  conclusive  against  the  apple, 
which  could  never,  in  a  hot  country  like  Palestine,  be 
thus  preferred  before  the  abundant  apricot,3  or  spoken 
of  as  in  any  sense  a  representative  tree. 

1  Land  of  Israel,  2nd  edition,  p.  493. 

2  Joel  i.  10,  12.  “Oil”  occurs  elsewhere  in  Scripture  for  the 
olive  or  “oil  tree.” 

:3  The  apple  is  never  dried  for  winter  use  in  Palestine,  while  the 


202 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


The  original  home  of  the  orange  was  doubtless 
the  warm  lower  slopes  of  the  Himalayas,  where  it 
still  grows  wild,  and  whence  it  overspread  Persia. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  Solomon,  who 
was  a  very  eminent  botanist,  specially  attached 
to  the  culture  of  watered  gardens,  and  who,  more¬ 
over,  ransacked  the  world  for  the  luxuries  of  life, 
failed  to  introduce  this  tree ;  even  if  we  could 
believe  that  the  travelled  and  magnificent  Egyptian 
monarchs  had  not  carried  it  still  farther  west  long- 
ages  before.1  That  the  fruit  has  been  familiar  to 
dwellers  in  the  Holy  Land  from  very  ancient  times 
appears  the  more  probable  from  the  luxuriant  way 
in  which  it  flourishes  there,  in  all  districts  where 
irrigation  is  employed,  but  chiefly  on  the  hot  sandy 
plains.  The  trees  yield  most  abundantly,  appearing 
often  one  mass  of  golden  balls  ;  and  a  “  bayamh ,”  or 
orange  grove,  is  a  very  remunerative  property,  pro- 
vided  only  that  water  can  be  drawn  up  from  a 
depth  not  greater  than  fifty  or  sixty  feet,  or,  better 
still,  furnished  at  a  moderate  royalty  from  some 
adjacent  spring  or  stream. 

Solomon,  so  well  versed  in  horticulture,  while 


fruit  of  the  apricot  is  largely  prepared  in  this  way,  both  whole  and 
in  the  shape  of  apricot  paste,  which  latter  is  now  beginning  to  be 
imported  into  this  country. 

1  i  Kings  iv.  33;  Ecclesiastes  ii.  5,  6,  8,  10;  2  Chronicles  ix. 


21-24. 


TEE  ORANGE. 


203 


laying  the  principal  scenes  of  his  Song  in  or  near 
four  different  “  gardens,” — that  is,  irrigated  gardens, 
— -if  I  am  right,  mentions  the  orange  four  times.1 
How,  the  apple  tree  does  not  need  irrigation,  but 
the  more  delicate  and  juicy  fruit  of  the  orange 
could  not  live  two  weeks,  during  hot  weather  in 
the  Holy  Land,  out  of  a  “  watered  garden.”  The 
intimate  and  necessary  association  of  the  orange 
with  that  greatest  of  all  refreshments  in  a  warm 
country,  an  abundant  supply  of  clear  running  water, 
lends  it  a  peculiar  charm,  and  gives  an  excellent 
coolness  to  its  shade.  I  observe  that  a  passing 
traveller,  who  speaks  of  her  “  enchanting  resting- 
place  ”  in  an  orange  orchard  at  J affa,  has  a  casual 
notice  of  this  delightful  feature.  “  Making  our 
way,”  she  says,  “  beneath  the  branches  bowed  down 
with  their  weight  of  golden  fruit,  we  reached  a 
sweet  spot  under  the  shady  foliage,  beside  one  of 
the  rills  of  water  flowing  along  the  channels  for  the 
irrigation  of  the  ground,  supplied  by  means  of  a 
Persian  wheel.  It  was  a  luxurious  season  of  dolce 
far  niente.  A  variety  of  flowers  formed  the  carpet 
on  which  we  reclined ;  luscious  fruit  hung  in  ripe 
abundance  within  reach  of  our  hand ;  the  sweet 
perfume  of  orange  and  lemon  blossom  scented  the 
air;  while  the  busy  hum  of  insects  (who  did  not 
torment  us)  mingled  with  the  pleasantest  of  all 
1  Canticles  ii.  3,  5  ;  vii.  8  ;  viii.  5. 


204 


PALESTINE  EXPLOITED. 


sounds  in  an  Eastern  land,  tlie  rippling  murmur  of 
water  and  the  soft  whirr  of  the  distant  wheel.”  1 
The  orange  is  in  every  way  a  noble  and  excellent 
tree.  It  was  not,  therefore,  to  be  supposed  that  it 
would  be  passed  over  in  those  Scriptures  where  all 
nature  is  laid  under  contribution  to  furnish  the 
choicest  figures  of  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord  and  His 
redeeming  work.  Those  who  are  well  acquainted 
with  its  loveliness  and  value  in  a  hot  land  will  enter 
into  something  of  the  deep  meaning  of  that  exquisite 
picture  of  a  full  experience  of  the  salvation  of 
God— 


“  As  an  orange  tree  among  the  trees  of  tlie  rocky- 
moun  tain-forest, 

So  is  my  beloved  among  the  sons. 

I  sit  down  under  his  shadow  with  eager  desire, 

And  his  fruit  is  sweet  to  my  taste.” 2 

How  invitingly,  how  beautifully,  is  here  displayed 
the  perfect  shelter  of  Jesus’  atoning  death  and 
righteousness;  the  refreshing  fragrance  of  His  pre¬ 
cious  name,  holy  character,  and  all-prevailing  inter¬ 
cession  ;  and  the  satisfying  sweetness  enjoyed  by  the 
soul  that  feeds  on  Him,  who  is  the  true  Tree  of 
Life — the  one  fruitful  tree  in  earth’s  wild  waste ! 

The  worth  of  the  orange  is  beautifully  enhanced 
in  these  verses  by  a  striking  contrast  with  the  trees 


2  Canticles  ii.  3. 


1  Gath  to  the  Cedars ,  p.  6. 


THE  ORANGE.  20  5 

of  the  dry,  tangled,  rocky  forests  of  the  Judean 
mountains.  The  highly  poetical  comparison  is — 

“  As  an  orange  tree  among  the  trees  of  the  ya’ar ” 1 

This  is  the  last  spot  in  which  we  should  expect  to 
find  so  glorious  a  tree.  The  word  ya’ar  is  evidently 
the  similar  modern  wa’ar  of  the  fellahheen  dialect, 
the  technical  name  by  which  they  distinguish  those 
pathless,  rocky,  unenclosed,  barren  mountain  forests, 
chiefly  consisting  of  low  brushwood,  which  form  a 
considerable  feature  of  the  highland,  or  hill- country, 
of  Palestine. 

It  will  interest  the  Biblical  student  to  trace  the 
use  of  this  word  ya’ar  in  all  the  passages,  some 
fifty-six  in  number,  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Upon  many  of  these  the  above  expla¬ 
nation  throws  a  new  light.  Take,  for  instance,  that 
where  Solomon,  after  speaking  of  his  “  gardens  and 
paradises,  or  parks,”  adds,  “I  made  me  pools  of 
water,  to  water  therewith  the  rocky  -  mountain - 
forest  {ya’ar)  that  bringeth  forth  trees,”2  that  is, 
the  rocky  wilderness  where  he  planted  forest-trees, 
and  probably  arranged  tiny  streams,  pools,  and 
cascades,  by  which  they  were  rendered  cool  and 
picturesque.  To  irrigate  a  garden  or  an  orchard  by 
means  of  artificial  pools  is  nothing  extraordinary 
in  a  land  like  Palestine.  In  the  case,  however, 


1 


2  Ecclesiastes  ii.  6. 


20  6 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


of  a  mere  ornamental  wild,  none  but  a  very  magni¬ 
ficent  and  wealthy  monarch  could  afford  such  a 
luxurious  use  of  water.  Again,  Jonathan’s  obtaining 
honey  in  a  yalar  by  reaching  out  with  “  the  end 
of  the  rod  that  was  in  his  hand,”  and  dipping 
it  in  the  wild  honey  that  was  dropping,  presum¬ 
ably  from  a  rock, — for  there  it  is  that  the  wild 
swarms  of  bees  now  build,  and  from  Scripture  refer¬ 
ences  appear  anciently  to  have  built,1 — becomes 
at  once  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  yalar  of 
Palestine  is  full  of  large  rocks,  cliffs,  and  caves.2 
The  yccar  is  mentioned  as  a  spot  fatal  to  an  army 
that  had  become  entangled  in  it ; 3  as  the  lair  of 
lions  4  and  bears ; 5  as  a  lonely,  deserted  place  ; 6  as 
inaccessible, 7  where  the  words  “  forest  (ya’ar)  of 
the  vintage,”  which  have  no  meaning,  should  be 
“  the  defenced  or  inaccessible  forest ;  ”  as  a  place, 
coupled  with  a  desert,  where  it  would  not  ordinarily 
be  safe  to  sleep  ;8  and  as  a  place  constantly  set  on 
fire.9  In  denouncing  the  chastisement  of  Israel, 
God  declares  of  her  vineyards  and  fig  orchards — 


1  Deuteronomy  xxxii.  13  ;  Psalm  lxxxi.  1 6. 

2  1  Samuel  xiv.  25-27.  3  2  Samuel  xviii.  6-8. 

4  Jeremiah  v.  6;  xii.  8 ;  Amos  iii.  4.  5  2  Kings  ii.  24. 

6  Micah  vii.  14.  7  Zechariah  xi.  2. 

8  Ezekiel  xxxiv.  25. 

9  Psalm  lxxxiii.  14;  Jeremiah  xxi.  14;  Isaiah  ix.  18.  Portions 

of  the  wa’ar  are  constantly  set  on  fire  by  the  charcoal  burners,  who 

often  kindle  in  this  reckless  fashion  a  whole  hillside. 


THE  ORANGE. 


207 


“  I  will  make  them  a  yaSar”  1 

Of  tlie  fertile  mountain  range  to  the  west  of  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon  it  is  said — 

“  Carmel  shall  be  esteemed  a  ya'ar  ”2 

Even  on  the  once  choicely  cared-for  Holy  City,  God 
pronounced  this  same  doom — 

“  Jerusalem  shall  become  heaps, 

And  the  mountain  of  the  house  (the  Temple  area) 
like  the  high  places  of  a  ya’ar  ”  3 

How  literally  such  prophecies  have  been  fulfilled,  the 
neglected  thickets  on  all  these  spots  now  attest. 

The  trees  in  the  waars  are  seldom  large  or  fine, 
while  a  tangled  brushwood  takes  up  most  of  the 
dry,  rock-strewn  ground.  Giant  roots  are  in  the 
soil,  but  that  which  springs  from  them  is  constantly 
being  cut,  burnt  down,  and  kept  low,  owing  to  the 
great  need  of  fuel,  and  the  want  of  proper  forest 
laws.  Pleasant  and  fair  as  an  orange  tree  would 
appear  in  any  position,  it  would  be  doubly  de¬ 
lightful  in  such  stony,  stunted  woods.  Thus  is 
the  glory  and  the  goodness  of  Jesus  mightily 
enhanced  when  we  view  Him  beside  the  fairest  of 
the  sons  of  men,  who,  compared  with  the  “  chief 
among  ten  thousand,”  “the  altogether  lovely,”  are 
but  as  the  barren  “trees  of  the  rocky-mountain- 
forest !  ” 

1  Hosea  ii.  12.  2  Isaiah  xxix.  17. 

3  Micah  iii.  12  ;  Jeremiah  xxvi.  18. 


208 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


“  As  a  sliining  orange  stands 
’Mid  the  trees  of  wild  waste  lands, — 
Where  its  lustrous  leaves  have  made, 
Sweet  as  dense,  a  cooling  shade, 
Golden  pomes  and  silvern  bloom 
Ever  mingle  fruit  and  fume  : 

Tree  of  life  !  whose  vital  power, 
Fulgent  leaf,  fair  scented  flower, 
Luscious  fruit  together  bears, 

Smiling  thus  through  countless  years, 

As  a  shining  orange  stands 

’Mid  the  trees  of  wild  waste  lands, 

So  among  earth’s  sons  I  see, 
Well-beloved,  no  form  like  Thee  ! 
Sheltered  by  Thy  precious  blood, 

I  recline  at  peace  with  God  ; 

’Neath  Thy  righteousness  divine 
Calmly  rests  this  heart  of  mine, 
While  Thine  intercessions  spread 
Fragrant  shadow  o’er  my  head. 

Adam  erst  in  primal  glade, 

Couched  below  the  life-tree’s  shade, 
Knowing  nor  to  weep  nor  die, 

Shared  not  such  a  rest  as  I ! 

More  than  Paradise  could  give 
Theirs  to  taste  on  Thee  who  live, 
Slaking  fevered  thirst  and  keen, 
Sweet  to  me  Thy  fruit  has  been. 

I  shall  never  thirst  again, 

Never  seek  for  joy  in  vain  ; 

Now  by  faith  I  feed  on  Thee, 

Life  eternal  flows  to  me  !  ” 


(  209  ) 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

THE  KEEPER . 

“  He  who  keepeth  thee  will  not  slumber. 

Behold,  he  who  keepeth  Israel 
Doth  not  slumber  or  sleep. 

Jehovah  is  thy  keeper  !  ” 

— Psalm  cxxi.  3-5. 

The  infinite  condescension  and  tenderness  of  God 
shine  out  brightly  in  every  part  of  His  word.  They 
are,  perhaps,  chiefly  conspicuous  in  those  lowly 
human  images  by  which  He  has  represented  His 
various  relations  towards  His  people.  He  has  been 
graciously  pleased  to  liken  Himself  to  a  potter,  to  a 
metal-worker  or  refiner,  to  a  shepherd,  to  a  footman 
or  runner,  and  to  a  servant  or  slave.1  A  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  humble  nature  of  these  occupations  will 
prepare  us  for  the  bold  metaphor  by  which  Jehovah 
is  pictured  as  the  “  keeper  ”  of  Israel.  This  repre¬ 
sentation  is  full  of  power,  and  would  appear  to 
refer  to  a  custom  and  office  peculiar  to  Bible  lands. 

1  Romans  ix.  21  ;  Malachi  iii.  3  ;  Psalm  xxiii.  1  ;  Hebrews  vi. 
20;  Luke  xxii.  27;  Philippians  ii.  7. 


0 


2  10 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


The  simple  and  open  modes  of  life  prevailing  in 
the  East  render  the  services  of  watchmen,  or 
keepers,  of  very  great  importance.  When  garden 
crops  are  ripening  a  keeper  is  hired,  who,  from 
an  elevated  stage,  a  kind  of  light  log-hut  rudely 
thatched  with  boughs  of  trees,  guards  the  produce 
day  and  night.  Job  says  of  the  insecurity  and 
weakness  of  the  wicked,  in  allusion  to  the  frail 
temporary  huts  of  these  watchmen — 

“  He  buildeth  his  house  like  a  moth, 

And  like  a  booth  that  the  keeper  maketli.” 1 

Vineyards  must  likewise  partake  of  such  care  if 
their  fruits  are  to  be  reaped.  The  bride  in  the  Song 
of  Solomon  laments  that  this  hard  and  menial  task 
fell  to  her  sad  lot — 

“  They  made  me  keeper  of  the  vineyards.” 2 

Olive-yards,  whose  trees  in  one  common  enclosure 
are  often  owned  by  various  proprietors,  are  always 
placed  under  a  keeper  in  autumn  when  the  fruit 
begins  to  ripen.  The  unlighted  towns  and  villages, 
no  less  than  the  unprotected  lands,  render  the  duties 
of  keepers,  or  watchmen,  very  arduous  and  important. 
Here  they  are  charged  to  arrest  any  stranger  who  is 
found  in  the  streets  after  dark  without  a  light,  and 
to  look  well  to  the  protection  of  the  houses  and 


1  Job  xxvii.  1 8. 


2  Canticles  i.  6. 


THE  KEEPER. 


2  I  I 


shops  in  their  respective  districts.  The  disconsolate 
and  bewildered  bride,  rashly  venturing  out  of  doors 
at  midnight,  alone,  without  a  lantern,  and  with  wild 
cries,  is  represented  as  immediately  seized  and  very 
roughly  handled  by  these  keepers,  as  certainly  would 
be  the  case  now. 

“  The  keepers  that  go  about  the  city  found  me, 

They  smote  me,  they  wounded  me  ; 

The  keepers  of  the  walls  took  away  my  veil 
from  off  me.5’ 1 

For  several  months  in  the  year,  dwellers  in 
Palestine  leave  the  hot  towns  and  villages,  and 
reside  in  tents,  or  small  houses,  in  adjacent  cool 
and  elevated  districts,  thus  taking  change  of  air 
without  quitting  their  ordinary  avocations.  This 
appears  to  have  been  the  custom  from  time  im¬ 
memorial.  Not  only  on  these  occasions,  but  also 
in  travelling,  when  the  tents  are  pitched  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  any  inhabited  place,  it  is  usual  to 
apply  at  once  to  the  governor,  or  headman  of  the 
district,  for  a  keeper  to  watch  over  the  encampment 

1  Canticles  v.  7.  The  word  in  this  instance  rendered  “  keeper,” 

•  •  • 

shoamair,  from  shaniar,  “to  keep  watch,”  or  “to 

guard”  (see  Jeremiah  iv.  17,  &c.),  is  the  word  usually  employed 
to  denote  this  office.  The  only  exception  to  this  rule  is  when 
vineyard  cultivation  is  in  question.  In  this  case  the  words  used 
seem  invariably  “I ^‘3,  noatzair,  from  “1V3  natzar,  “to  keep,”  or 
“watch”  (Isaiah  xxvii.  3;  Jeremiah  iv.  16;  Job  xxvii.  18),  and 
the  very  similar  cognate  form  "1123,  nocitair,  from  “1123,  natar ,  with 
the  same  meaning  (Canticles  i.  6  ;  viii.  11,  12). 


2  12 


PATESTINE  EXPLORED. 


by  night.  The  keepers  commonly  employed  in  Jeru¬ 
salem  are  tall,  white-robed,  jet-black  Nubians,  who 
are  armed  with  clubs  —  men  of  great  strength 
and  dreaded  fierceness,  yet,  notwithstanding,  very 
loyal  and  faithful  to  their  employers.  I  have 
myself  constantly  hired  keepers  to  watch  over  my 
encampment,  and  can  testify  to  the  stern  reality  of 
their  labours,  when  I  have  suffered,  as  in  a  certain 
notable  instance  while  in  tents  near  Jerusalem, 
from  the  nocturnal  assaults  of  robbers,  one  of  whom 
was  secured  after  a  sanguinary  struggle.  The  story 
of  this  occurrence  so  well  illustrates  those  features 
of  Palestine  life  which  have  from  the  earliest  times 
given  rise  to  the  office  of  a  keeper,  that  I  cannot 
do  better  than  briefly  recount  it  here. 

During  the  hot  summer  of  1 871,  while  many  of 
the  residents  at  Jerusalem,  according  to  the  custom 
I  have  described,  were  encamped  outside  the  city 
walls,  almost  nightly  robberies  took  place.  Men 
were  constantly  prowling  about  the  tents  after  dark, 
and,  as  appeals  to  the  authorities  produced  no 
result,  very  great  uneasiness  prevailed.  The  camp 
of  our  mission  party  was  pitched  at  this  time  half  a 
mile  west  of  the  city,  on  the  Jaffa  road,  in  a  large 
enclosure,  called  from  its  high  and  healthy  situation 
the  Sanatorium.  In  the  centre  of  this  enclosure 
stood  a  substantial  stone-built  house,  which  served 
as  the  sleeping  quarters  of  the  more  delicate,  while 


THE  KEEPER, 


213 


seventeen  tents  were  grouped  before  it,  forming 
a  picturesque  encampment.  We  rose  at  sunrise 
and  rode  into  Jerusalem  to  engage  in  the  labours 
of  the  day,  and  at  sunset  we  returned  to  par¬ 
take  of  our  evening  meal,  enjoy  the  cool  air,  and 
retire  early  to  sound  and  refreshing  rest  under  our 
canvas  roofs.  But  the  quiet  and  peace  of  this 
pleasant  and  healthful  life  was  soon  to  be  broken. 
One  night  a  lady  of  our  party,  who  was  sleeping  in 
a  tent  alone,  was  awakened  by  a  movement  at  her 
head,  and  saw  a  man,  who  was  making  off  with  a 
box,  disappear  through  the  door.  She  was  at  first 
afraid  to  cry  out,  and  he  easily  escaped  before  the 
alarm  was  given.  Emboldened  by  their  predatory 
success,  the  robbers  attempted  to  enter  three  tents 
the  next  night.  Erom  that  time  we  ceased  to  rely 
upon  our  Muslim  keeper — a  man  of  the  adjoining 
village  of  Lifta ,  chosen,  as  was  usual,  for  his  own 
somewhat  desperate  character,  as  on  the  whole  the 
fittest  for  such  a  post — and  commenced  to  watch 
ourselves.  To  apply  to  the  hopelessly  weak  and 
corrupt  local  government  was  found  worse  than  use¬ 
less.  I  had  already  learned,  by  painful  experience, 
that  Palestine  criminals  could  safely  laugh  at  and 
defy  the  authorities  while  free,  and  no  less  safely 
bribe  them  with  their  spoils  when  caught.  In 
Syria,  circumstanced  as  we  were,  we  could  have 
little  other  protection,  under  God,  than  that  which 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


2  14 

we  could  afford  ourselves.  Accordingly  a  great 
part  of  the  night  I  kept  guard  over  the  camp 
in  turn  with  others.  No  more  attempts  followed 
for  a  while,  and  we  began  to  relax  the  strictness  of 
our  watch. 

One  night  about  this  time,  feeling  thoroughly 
dissatisfied  with  our  keeper  Mustafa,  who  had 
lately  obtained  the  help  of  his  brother,  I  called 
him  up,  and  threatened  him  severely  with  the 
consequences  which  would  follow  if  we  suffered 
any  loss  or  injury  through  his  neglect.  He  was 
thoroughly  aroused  by  the  words,  which  plainly 
impeached  his  diligence,  courage,  and  honesty,  and, 
when  we  retired  to  rest  in  our  tents,  Mustafa  and 
his  brother  repaired  to  mount  guard,  and  probably 
for  the  first  time  to  keep  a  faithful  watch.  At 
half-past  two  o’clock  we  were  roused  from  our  beds 
by  a  noise,  and  hastily  dressing,  I  ran  out,  to  find 
that  our  keeper’s  brother  had  seen  a  man  stealing 
to  one  of  the  servants’  tents,  but,  in  the  pursuit 
which  followed,  he  had  succeeded  in  making  good 
his  escape.  Some  time  passed  in  searching  the 
grounds,  and  we  again  sought  rest  in  our  tents. 
Hardly,  however,  had  I  laid  down,  before  terribly 
loud  but  distant  cries  reached  my  ears,  which  more 
resembled  the  yells  of  wild  beasts  than  the  shouts 
of  men.  I  leaped  from  my  camp  bed,  seized  the 
first  weapon  which  came  to  hand,  which  chanced 


THE  KEEPER. 


215 


to  "be  an  oak  club,  and,  half  naked,  ran  for  the 
spot  whence  the  noise  proceeded.  I  called  to 
others  as  I  started,  and  a  youth  armed  with  a 
gun  followed  me.  I  had  to  climb  two  jedars — 
walls  of  loosed  piled-up  stones — and  in  perfect 
darkness  to  make  my  way  over  rough  rock  boul¬ 
ders,  and  through  formidable  thistles  and  nettles. 
The  yells,  however,  guided  me  to  the  spot,  and  in 
another  moment  I  had  thrown  myself  upon  three 
struggling  men,  to  find  to  my  inexpressible  relief 
that  Mustafa  and  his  brother  were  mastering  a 
gigantic  fellow,  who  succumbed  on  my  coming  up 
without  further  resistance,  and  to  be  sprinkled 
with  the  blood  that  had  been  flowing  from  their 
wounds.  The  youth  who  had  followed  me  soon 
reached  the  scene,  and  our  arrival  proved  most 
timely ;  for  three  of  our  prisoner’s  comrades,  who  had 
returned  to  his  aid,  now  took  to  flight. 

We  brought  him  into  our  camp,  and,  having 
bound  his  feet  in  the  irons  used  to  fetter  our  asses, 
attended  to  a  severe  sword-wound  on  his  head.  I 
had  rarely  seen  a  more  powerful  man.  He  was 
considerably  over  six  feet,  well  made  in  proportion, 
and  the  savage  glance  of  his  sullen  eyes,  as  he  lay 
bound  and  cowering  amongst  us,  I  shall  not  soon 
forget.  We  then  proceeded  to  the  spot  where  he 
had  first  been  sighted,  and  discovered  a  parcel 
containing  money  and  clothes,  which  were  after- 


2  I  6  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

wards  identified  as  those  which  he  had  stolen  from 
a  German  encampment  in  an  earlier  part  of  the 
night,  and  a  stonemason’s  hammer  with  which  he 
was  armed.  We  also  found  his  turban,  which  con¬ 
tained  between  the  tarboosh,  or  red  cloth  cap,  and 
the  inner  close-fitting  skull-cap  of  white  cotton, 
called  arakiyeh  (the  fellahheen  constantly  use  them 
in  this  way  as  a  kind  of  pocket-book),  a  number  of 
letters  giving  us  his  name,  residence,  and  occupa¬ 
tion.  From  these  he  was  at  once  recognised  as  a 
man  of  position  -  and  property  in  a  neighbouring 
village,  Ain  Karim,  a  long-suspected  and  desperate 
character. 

Great  was  our  thankfulness  at  such  a  merciful 
providence,  and  still  more  so  when  we  learnt  how 
specially  it  had  been  exercised.  Mustafa,  it  seems, 
armed  with  his  sword,  had  stolen  out  alone  in  the 
direction  in  which  the  robber  had  first  come.  There, 
at  some  distance  beyond  the  wall  of  our  encamp¬ 
ment,  hidden  by  a  rock,  he  had  watched  this  man 
stealthily  returning  to  secure  the  already  stolen 
booty,  which  he  had  dropped  when  surprised  at  the 
first  alarm,  and  which  we  afterwards  found.  Upon 
our  keeper  showing  himself,  the  man  caught  sight 
of  him,  and  said  in  a  low  voice,  Are  you  So-and-so  ? 
naming  one  of  his  companions;  Mustafa’s  answer 
was  an  attempt  to  seize  him,  when  the  man  turned 
to  fly,  but  in  running  fell  over  a  low  embankment 


THE  KEEPER. 


2  17 


in  the  dark,  and  was  thus  caught.  A  deadly  con¬ 
flict  now  ensued,  in  which  Mustafa  lost  his  sword, 
and,  notwithstanding  his  great  strength,  and  the 
advantage  he  had  gained,  was  completely  over¬ 
powered.  At  this  moment  one  of  the  man’s  accom¬ 
plices  came  up,  and  seizing  Mustafa’s  sword,  struck 
at  the  combatant  above,  whom  he  mistook  in  the 
darkness  for  our  keeper,  and  thus  inflicted  a  severe 
wound  upon  the  back  of  his  comrade’s  head.  This, 
with  the  arrival  of  Mustafa’s  brother,  followed  by 
myself,  decided  the  struggle. 

Early  next  morning  a  summary  trial  of  the  pri¬ 
soner  took  place  in  our  camp,  the  judge  and  the 
officers  of  the  court,  together  with  the  representatives 
of  our  English  consulate,  coming  out  to  the  Sana- 
torium  for  the  purpose.  The  man  raised  a  clever 
defence,  hut  it  availed  him  nothing.  When  upon 
cross-examination  he  refused  to  admit  that  he  was 
guilty,  the  officers  standing  by  with  brutal  violence 
struck  him  on  the  face  with  the  palms  of  their 
hands,  and  otherwise  cruelly  ill-treated  him.  It 
was  a  painful  scene,  such  as  generally  occurs  at  a 
criminal  trial  in  Palestine.  I  witnessed  it  on  that 
occasion  for  the  first  time.  As  I  looked  on  indig¬ 
nantly,  I  realised  with  awful  vividness  the  depth 
of  degradation  and  suffering  to  which  our  Saviour 
stooped,  when  He  submitted  to  be  treated  as  a  male- 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


2  I  8 

factor  of  the  lowest  class  in  just  this  way ! 1  The 
trial  resulted  in  a  sentence  to  a  lone:  term  of 
imprisonment.  There  was  much  general  rejoicing 
at  the  capture  of  one  of  those  dangerous  felons, 
whom  the  police  are  powerless  to  arrest,  and  no 
more  tents  were  molested  that  year  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  find  keepers  for  this  work 
who  can  be  thoroughly  trusted.  Most  native  Syrians 
are  afraid  to  encounter  these  robbers,  who  form  a 
desperate  class,  while  many  will  conspire  to  plunder 
the  very  tents  they  are  hired  to  guard.  Another 
great  practical  difficulty  is  to  find  a  keeper  who 
will  remain  awake  during  the  whole  night.  The 
weariness  of  those  who  keep  a  faithful  watch,  and 
their  longing  for  day  during  the  tedious  lonely 
hours  of  darkness,  is  alluded  to  in  a  graphic  and 
beautiful  fffiure  of  the  Psalmist — 

11  My  soul  [waiteth]  for  the  Lord 


1  Matthew  xxvi.  67  ;  xxvii.  30  ;  Mark  xiv.  65  ;  Luke  xxii.  63-65  ; 
John  xviii.  22.  The  Apostle  Paul,  when  tried  before  the  court  of 
the  Sanhedrim,  was  treated  in  the  same  manner.  When  he  began 
to  speak  in  his  own  defence,  Ananias,  the  High-priest,  who  was 
the  head  of  the  court,  ‘  ‘  commanded  those  that  stood  by  him 
to  smite  him  on  the  mouth  ”  (Acts  xxiii.  2) ;  but  this  holy  man 
was  not  so  meek  and  patient  as  his  Master  under  similar  provo¬ 
cation. 


THE  KEEPER. 


2  I  9 

More  tlian  keepers  for  the  morning, 

[More  than]  keepers  for  the  morning.”1 

The  usual  method  adopted  to  secure  due  vigi¬ 
lance  is  to  require  the  man  to  call  out  loudly,  or  to 
blow  a  whistle,  every  quarter  of  an  hour.  This  not 
only  serves  to  frighten  away  robbers,  but  also  to 
assure  his  wakeful  employer  that  he  is  diligently  on 
duty.  Even  when  acting  as  keepers  of  vineyard  or 
other  produce,  they  cry  out  loudly  at  intervals  to 
let  it  be  known  that  the  place  is  watched.  There 
seems  a  plain  reference  to  such  a  practice  in  the 
prophet  Jeremiah,  where  down-trodden  Jerusalem 
and  Judea  are  represented  as  held  against  their 
own  excluded  and  rightful  possessors  as  by  watchful 
keepers. 

“  Behold,  cry  aloud  concerning  Jerusalem  : 

Keepers  ( noatzair )  come  from  a  far  country, 

And  utter  their  voice  against  the  cities  of  Judah. 

Like  keepers  ( shoamair )  of  a  field  are  they  against 
her  round  about ; 

Because  she  hath  been  rebellious  against  me, 
saith  Jehovah.”2 


Yet,  notwithstanding  all  precautions,  as  soon  as 
sleep  falls  on  the  tired  camp,  it  is  too  often  the  case 
that  the  hireling  keeper  lies  down  on  the  ground, 


1  Psalm  cxxx.  6. 


2  Jeremiah  iv.  16,  17. 


220 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


wraps  around  him  his  thick  ’ abaiyeh ,  or  cloak,  and, 
careless  of  his  charge,  or  overcome  with  weariness, 
yields  himself  up  to  his  drowsy  propensities. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  these  facts,  how  full  of 
condescension  and  cheer  is  the  assurance  of  God’s 
never-ceasing  care — 

“  He  who  keepeth  thee  will  not  slumber. 

Behold,  he  who  keepeth  Israel 
Doth  not  slumber  or  sleep. 

Jehovah  is  thy  keeper  !  ”  1 

While  the  services  of  the  keeper  constitute  at 
all  times  a  marked  feature  of  life  in  Palestine,  they 
are  perhaps  more  needed  when  travelling  through 
the  country  than  at  any  other  time.  Then,  when 
the  moving  camp  is  nightly  pitched  in  strange 
fields,  it  becomes  absolutely  necessary  to  apply  to 
the  nearest  authorities  for  a  nocturnal  guardian, 
before  one  can  safely  lie  down  to  rest.  Now  this 
Psalm  cxxi.  being  one  of  “  the  Songs  of  Degrees,” 

]  Psalm  cxxi.  3-5.  See  also  Psalm  cxvi.  6 — 

“  Jehovah  is  the  keeper  ( shoamair )  of  the  simple,” 
and  Psalm  cxlvi.  9 — 

“  Jehovah  is  the  keeper  ( shoamair )  of  strangers.” 

In  Ecclesiastes  v.  8,  God’s  watchful  care  and  supreme  providence 
is  described  by  the  same  term  shoamair,  and  the  same  bold  and 
beautiful  figure  is  probably  intended.  “  If  thou  seest  the  oppres¬ 
sion  of  the  poor,  and  violent  perverting  of  judgment  and  justice  in 
the  city  [or  province],  marvel  not  at  the  matter,  for  a  higher  than 
the  high  is  keeper.” 


THE  KEEPER. 


22  1 


was  probably  composed  to  be  sung  on  the  way  to 
Jerusalem,  as  a  pilgrim  hymn,  when  the  Israelites 
were  coming  up  annually  to  keep  the  three  great 
feasts.  As  a  journeying  Psalm,  it  would  therefore 
have  peculiar  significance  in  its  allusion  to  the 
keeper  by  night. 


(  222  ) 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CRUSHED  STRAW. 

“ For  in  this  mountain  shall  the  hand  of  Jehovah  rest  ; 

And  Moab  shall  be  trodden  down  under  him, 

Even  as  crushed  straw  is  trodden  down  in  Madmenah.” 

— Isaiah  xxv.  io. 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  and  prominent  features 
of  agriculture  in  the  Holy  Land  is  the  primitive 
mode  of  threshing,  or  treading  down,  straw,  by 
which  it  is  crushed  to  atoms  and  converted  into 
fodder.  Camels,  laden  with  two  huge  sacks,  may 
constantly  be  seen  carrying  the  straw  when  so 
crushed  into  the  towns  where,  under  the  Arabic 
name  of  teben /  it  is  a  regular  article  of  commerce. 
It  forms  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  food  of  horse, 
mule,  ass,  ox,  camel,  and  dromedary, —  that  is,  of 
all  the  beasts  of  burden.  Indeed  the  provender  of 
horse,  mule,  and  ass  consists  only  of  about  one  part 
of  barley,  mixed  with  two  or  three  parts  of  this 
broken  straw,  with  the  exception  of  fresh  barley 
and  other  grasses,  called  hhasJieesh ,  during  the  short 
six  weeks  in  March  and  April  when  they  can  be 

1  The  e  in  teben  is  sounded  short,  something  like  i. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


freely  procured.  Hay  is  unknown — straw,  in  the 
form  before-mentioned,  entirely  taking  its  place. 
This  seems  always  to  have  been  the  same;  for  we 
read  that  Solomon’s  officers  provided  his  stables 
with  the  very  food  that  the  Sultan’s  officers  would 
procure  now :  “  barley  and  crushed  straw  (teven)  for 
the  horses.” 1  Twice  we  read  in  Isaiah  that  the  food 
of  the  ox  was  teven .2 

Teben ,  I  have  said,  is  the  technical  Arabic  term 
for  crushed  or  trodden  straw,  and  this  surely  must 
be  the  meaning  of  the  very  same  Hebrew  word 
teven 3  in  all  the  passages  where  it  occurs  in  the 
Old  Testament.  The  similarity  of  the  Arabic  teben 
and  the  Hebrew  teven  does  not  appear  to  the 
English  reader  as  close  as  it  really  is.  One  char¬ 
acter  in  Hebrew,  2,  stands  for  both  b  and  v,  and  the 
harder  consonant  is  distinguished  from  the  softer 
merely  by  a  point  or  dot  in  the  centre  of  the  letter. 
As  these  points  or  dots,  in  common  with  most  of 
the  kindred  vowel  marks,  are  not  found  in  the  most 
ancient  Hebrew  manuscripts,  or  in  those  of  the 
Syriac  and  other  cognate  languages,  or  in  any  of  the 
ancient  monumental  inscriptions,  it  is  impossible  for 
an  Oriental  scholar  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
they  were  originally  a  part  of  the  inspired  text. 
While  they  are  no  doubt  very  correct  in  the  main, 

1  I  Kings  iv.  28.  2  Isaiah  xi.  7  ;  lxv.  25. 

3  j^JFI  The  e  in  this  word  is  short  like  the  Arabic. 


224 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


some  manifest  and  serious  errors  must  be  laid  to 
their  charge,  several  of  which  are  noted  in  this 
work.  There  is  every  probability  that  the  Hebrew 
word  for  “crushed  straw”  was  pronounced  precisely 
the  same  as  its  Arabic  equivalent. 

Fortunately  our  translators  have  uniformly  ren¬ 
dered  this  word,  in  all  but  two  passages,  by  the 
same  English  expression.  The  places,  therefore,  where 
teven  occurs  in  Hebrew  may  be  readily  recognised 
by  the  English  reader  without  any  reference  to  the 
original,  for  they  are  in  each  instance  those  where 
the  word  “  straw  ”  is  found  in  our  version.  In 
all  these  places  let  “  crushed  or  broken  straw  ” — 
i.e.,  straw  in  a  very  similar  state  to  our  chopped 
hay — be  understood  as  the  exact  meaning  of  the 
Hebrew.  Two  passages  only  occur  where  it  is 
differently  translated,  but  both  refer  to  the  same 
thing.  Jeremiah,  challenging  the  ^  false  prophets, 
and  bidding  the  people  compare  their  lying  dreams 
with  the  true  Divine  communications,  cries — 

“  Wliat  [hath]  the  crushed  straw  (teven)  [to  do]  with 
the  wheat  ?  saith  Jehovah.5’1 

Twenty  camel-loads  of  teben  are  scarcely  worth  one 
camel-load  of  wheat,  and  though  for  a  brief  season 
they  appear  mingled  together  in  the  heap  of  the 

1  Jeremiah  xxiii.  28.  It  is  “chaff”  here  in  our  version,  which, 
it  is  true,  forms  a  small  part  of  all  good  teben. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


225 


tliresliing-floor,  the  time  is  sure  to  come  when  they 
will  he  clearly  distinguished  and  finally  separated. 
Job  says  of  the  wicked — 

“  They  are  as  crushed  straw  ( teben )  before  the  wind,” 1 

a  far  stronger  figure  of  weakness  and  instability  than 
“  stubble,”  by  which  the  word  is  misrendered  in  our 
version. 

There  is  a  special  word  in  Hebrew  for  straw  in 
its  natural  state,  hash ,2  from  kashash  to  gather,  which, 
answering  exactly  to  the  same  word  in  Arabic,  is 
sometimes  straw  with  the  ear  attached,  just  as  it  is 
gathered  by  the  reapers,  and  sometimes  stubble.  In 
the  Authorised  Version  it  may  be  known  by  its  being 
translated  in  every  case  “  stubble.”  What  could  be 
plainer  as  a  reference  to  straw  in  its  natural  con¬ 
dition,  than  the  following  comparison  used  of  the 
strength  of  leviathan — 

“  A  club  is  counted  [by  him]  as  a  straw  (Jcasli),3 
where  a  heavy  cudgel  is  compared  to  a  puny  blade 
of  grain  in  the  estimation  of  the  monstrous  and 
invulnerable  crocodile. 

Keeping  this  distinction  in  mind,  we  shall  under¬ 
stand  the  great  difficulty  in  which  the  children  of 

1  Job  xxi.  18.  The  same  force  is  given  to  another  comparison 
in  this  book.  Speaking  of  leviathan,  the  crocodile,  it  is  said  in 
Job  xli.  27 — 

“  He  esteemetli  iron  as  crushed  straw  (teven).  ” 

2  65? j?  3  Job  xli.  29. 

P 


226 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Israel  were  placed  by  Pharaoh’s  tyrannical  edict, 
when  they  had  to  gather  straw  in  its  natural  state 
hash,  instead  of  being  supplied  with  ready-made 
teven,  or  crushed  straw.  For  Pharaoh  commanded 
“  the  taskmasters  of  the  people  and  their  officers, 
saying :  Ye  shall  no  more  give  the  people  crushed 
sir  cm  {teven)  to  make  brick  as  heretofore ;  let  them 
go  and  gather  crushed  straw  {teven)  for  themselves : 
and  the  measure  [or  number]  of  the  bricks  which 
they  did  make  heretofore  ye  shall  lay  upon  them ; 
ye  shall  not  diminish  ought  thereof.  ...  So  the 
people  were  scattered  abroad  throughout  all  the 
land  of  Egypt  to  gather  straw  {hash)  for  the  crushed 
straw  {teven)!'1  It  was  this  crushed  straw  that  was 
required  to  mix  with  the  clay  to  make  sun-dried 
bricks,  as  is  still  the  case  in  Egypt  to  the  present 
day.2  It  was  now  about  two  months  to  harvest, 

1  Exodus  v.  6,  7,  8,  12. 

2  Gesenius  derives  m,  teven,  from  1132,  banah,  “  to  build;”  from 

its  early  use  in  brickmaking.  This  helps  materially  to  identify  the 
teven  of  Scripture  with  crushed  or  broken  straw,  the  only  kind  of 
straw  used  for  this  purpose.  Such  small  particles  are  required  to 
mix  in  with  the  clay  to  make  it  bind.  Since  writing  the  above, 
the  author  has  observed  Lieutenant  Conder’s  interesting  notice  of 
a  similar  use  of  crushed  straw  in  the  present  Palestine  brick¬ 
fields.  “  The  bricks  are  made  in  spring  by  bringing  down  water 
into  ditches  dug  in  the  clay,  where  chopped  straw  is  mixed  in  with 
the  mud ;  thence  the  soft  mixture  is  carried  in  bowls  to  a  row  of 
wooden  moulds  or  frames,  each  about  ten  inches  long  by  three 
inches  across  ;  these  are  laid  out  on  flat  ground  and  are  squeezed 
full,  the  clay  being  then  left  to  harden  in  the  sun  ”  ( Tent  Work  in 
Palestine,  vol.  ii.  p.  238). 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


2  2J 

and  they  would  not  only  have  to  hunt  for  last 
year’s  straw  in  the  few  places  where  it  still  re¬ 
mained,  hut,  when  they  had  collected  it,  would 
further  have  to  manufacture  it  themselves  into 
teben.  In  our  version  the  English  reader  per¬ 
ceives  only  half  their  difficulty.  But  the  officers 
of  the  children  of  Israel  would  understand  that 
when  they  had  managed  to  find  ordinary  straw — 
a  rare  commodity  at  any  time  in  Egypt,  and  then 
it  was  almost  a  year  since  the  last  harvest — they 
had  yet  to  crush  it  on  the  threshing-floors  by  a 
long  and  laborious  process.  Well  might  they  see 
“  that  they  were  in  evil  case,  after  it  was  said,  Ye 
shall  not  diminish  ought  from  your  bricks  of  your 
daily  task.” 1 

While  in  the  West  unbroken  straw  is  most  ex¬ 
tensively  used  in  many  ways,  such  as  thatching, 
plaiting,  packing,  and  littering  stable  and  farmyard 
floors,  in  Palestine  it  is  but  little  employed.  There 
it  is  sometimes  plaited  into  baskets  and  trays,  twisted 
into  ropes,  and  stuffed  into  pack-saddles.  Besides 
these  occasional  uses,  for  which  only  a  small  quan¬ 
tity  is  required,  I  am  not  aware  of  its  being 
commonly  put  to  any  other  purpose.  Corn  in 
Palestine,  owing  to  the  heat  and  drought,  is  much 
shorter  in  the  stalk  than  with  us,  and  the  straw  is 
therefore  necessarily  less  valuable,  except  for  use  in 

1  Exodus  v.  19. 


223 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


its  crushed  state  as  fodder  and  to  mix  with  clay 
in  brickmaking.  For  both  these  requirements  it 
has  to  undergo  a  similar  preparation,  forming,  as 
already  remarked,  a  regular  agricultural  process, 
which  may  be  witnessed  for  months  together  in 
the  dry  season  in  every  part  of  the  country.  In 
describing  it  a  few  words  are  necessary  on  harvest 
operations  in  general. 

The  uncertainty  and  consequent  anxiety  attend¬ 
ing  the  gathering  in  of  harvest  in  our  land  is  un» 
known  in  Syria.  The  weather  during  summer  has 
an  unvarying  constancy.  Both  at  the  time  of  har¬ 
vest,  from  the  latter  end  of  April  to  the  early  part 
of  June,  and  for  three  or  four  months  afterwards, 
no  drop  of  rain  falls.  Thus  there  is  no  need  of 
stacking  grain,  and  threshing  and  winnowing  are 
performed  in  the  open  field  under  a  cloudless  sky. 
The  threshing-floor  is  either  a  tolerably  smooth 
rocky  surface,  or  a  piece  of  ground  carefully  laid 
with  a  well-beaten  compost  of  clay  and  cowdung. 
It  is  generally  placed  upon  some  elevated  spot, 
where  it  is  exposed  to  the  wind.  Such  is  the 
threshing-floor  now  in  existence  on  the  top  of 
Olivet;  and  such  was  that  of  Araunah,  which  once 
stood  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Moriah,  afterwards 
the  site  of  the  Templed  Here  the  grain  is  brought 

1  2  Chronicles  iii.’i.  The  Arabic  name  for  a  threshing-floor,  jurun, 
or  jam,  is  virtually  the  same  as  the  Hebrew  pj,  goaren.  May  not  our 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


229 

in  small  slieaves  upon  the  backs  of  camels  and 
asses.  These  are  placed  on  the  floor  in  a  great  heap, 
called  a  soldi,  from  which  they  are  raked  down 
to  he  laid  in  thin  layers  in  a  circle,  having  the 
heap  for  its  centre,  with  a  circumference  of  ten 
to  fifteen  yards.  Over  the  grain  thus  spread  out, 
oxen  ranged  in  a  row  are  kept  constantly  walking 
round.  In  doing  so  they  perform  a  double  office. 
First  they  thresh  by  treading  out  the  corn,  which, 
as  it  is  detached  from  the  ear,  being  heavier  than 
the  straw,  either  falls  below  it  or  is  pressed  into 
the  soft  mass,  and  thus  escapes  being  bruised. 
But  another  process  is  going  on  at  the  same  time. 
The  straw,  the  lighter  part,  keeps  on  the  top  of  the 
trodden  surface,  and  being  of  a  much  softer  nature 
than  the  grain,  is  gradually  crushed  into  little  pieces 
by  the  triturating  action  of  the  oxen’s  hoofs. 

There  is  another  mode  of  threshing,  much  less 
common,  but  which  I  once  witnessed  on  a  floor 
not  far  from  Jerusalem.  In  this  case  the  cattle  are 
yoked  to  a  rude  sledge,  constructed  of  heavy  logs  of 
timber,  having  its  under  surface  full  of  small  sharp 
pieces  of  the  hard  black  basalt  stone,  called  hajr  cs 

word  corn,  used  for  grain  generally,  come  from  this  Hebrew  word 
joaren  1  The  threshing-floor  is  thus  actually  put  for  its  contents  in 
the  shape  of  grain,  in  Deuteronomy  xvi.  13  :  “  Thou  shalt  observe 
the  feast  of  Tabernacles  seven  days,  after  thou  hast  gathered  in 
thy  corn  (pi,  (joaren )  and  thy  wine.” 


230 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


soda,  ancl  sometimes  of  iron  points,  firmly  let  into 
the  wood.  The  sledge,  to  which  oxen  or  horses 
are  yoked,  is  then  driven  over  the  loose  sheaves  by 
a  man  who  stands  upon  it,  and  thus  adds  to  its 
grinding  power  the  benefit  of  his  own  weight, 
while  the  process  is  facilitated  by  another  labourer, 
who  moves  the  straw  about  occasionally  with  a 
wooden  pronged  fork.  This  heavy  sledge  is  doubt¬ 
less  Isaiah’s  “  sharp  threshing-sledge  having  teeth.”1 
It  is  still  called  moarej  by  the  fellahheen,  which 
with  the  invariable  softening  of  the  g  into  j  is  the 
same  as  the  Hebrew  word  moarag ?  Such  “  threshing- 
sledges  ”  Oman  offered  to  David  as  fuel  for  the  altar 
he  was  about  to  erect.3  From  their  great  size  it 
can  be  seen  that  they  would  furnish  sufficient  wood 
to  consume  the  sacrifice  of  two  oxen,  for  which 
purpose  flails,  our  “  threshing  instruments,”  would 
be  wholly  inadequate.  Sometimes  the  threshing- 
sledge,  instead  of  having  “  teeth  ”  of  stone  or  iron 
on  its  under  side,  is  furnished  with  a  number  of 
little  wooden  rollers,  or  wheels,  bound  with  iron 
tires,  which  turn  round  as  it  is  drawn  along,  and 
serve  the  same  purpose.  The  classical  reader  will 
call  to  mind  that  the  Eoman  tribulum  mentioned  bv 

V 

Virgil,  and  described  by  Varro  in  the  fifty-second 
chapter  of  his  first  book,  was  of  these  two  kinds. 
The  latter  tells  us  that  the  threshing  machine  with 

O 

1  Isaiah  xli.  15.  2  JTlO  3  1  Chronicles  xxi.  23. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


231 


rollers,  used  specially  in  a  part  of  Spain,  was  known 
as  the  “  Carthaginian  waggon.”  What  more  likely 
than  that  this  was  brought  to  the  colony  of  Car¬ 
thage  in  the  first  instance  from  the  shores  of  Pales¬ 
tine  by  its  Phoenician  or  Canaanitish  founders  ? 

In  that  interesting  passage  in  Isaiah,  where  the 
varied  processes  of  agriculture  are  set  forth  as  an 
illustration  of  the  different  methods  of  working 
which  God  adopts  in  His  spiritual  husbandry 
amongst  men,  both  these  instruments  are  enume¬ 
rated  as  used  in  moderation  to  thresh  out  corn. 

“  The  Icetzahh 1  are  not  threshed  with  a  threshing- 
sledge  ( hharootz ),2 

Neither  is  a  cartwheel  rolled  upon  the  cummin  ; 

But  Jcetzahh  are  beaten  out  with  a  staff  ( matteh ), 

And  cummin  with  a  club  ( sliciivet ). 

Bread  [that  is,  corn]  is  bruised, 

But  he  will  not  ever  be  threshing  it ; 

He  drivetli  the  wheels  of  his  cart,  and  his  horses, 

And  he  bruiseth  it  not.”3 

I 

1  A  kind  of  sesame,  or  rape  seed,  grown  for  oil,  still  known 

by  this  name  in  Palestine,  and  still  beaten  out  in  the  same  way. 

*  ynn 

3  Isaiah  xxviii.  27,  28.  Horses  are  still  used  in  threshing  in  Asia 
Minor,  though  they  are  seldom  so  employed  in  Palestine.  Dr.  Van 
Lennep  describes  this  as  follows  : — “  The  heaps  of  sheaves  are  first 
spread  out  evenly  upon  the  floor,  in  a  diameter  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet. 
Seven  or  eight  of  the  horses  are  then  tied  to  each  other  by  a  single 
rope,  so  as  to  stand  abreast  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference 
of  the  circle.  The  driver  holds  the  end  of  the  rope  with  one  hand, 
or  fastens  it  to  an  upright  post  in  the  centre,  while  with  the  other 
lie  whips  the  animals  to  keep  them  moving  abreast  in  a  circle  around 


232  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

The  hharootz ,  from  the  root  hharatz }  the  primary 
notion  of  which  seems  to  consist  in  sharpness,  is 
the  technical  name  of  that  form  of  threshing-sledge 
which  has  sharp  teeth  on  its  under  side,  and  “  the 
wheel  of  the  cart”  is  the  threshing- sledge  having 
rollers.  We  have  here  the  origin  of  our  word 
tribulation,  from  the  Latin  tribulum ,  a  threshing- 
sledge,  and  can  observe  its  singularly  appropriate 
and  beautiful  meaning.  The  harsh  action  of  the 
heavy-armed  sledge  as  it  rubs  and  drives  out  the 
corn,  and  crushes  and  breaks  up  the  heap,  fully 
illustrates  the  true  action  of  trial  and  affliction. 
While  the  chaff  and  straw  are  bruised  and  broken 
to  atoms,  the  effect  of  the  tribulum  on  the  good 
wheat  is  only  to  separate  it  unhurt,  purified  from 
its  surroundings — the  precious  from  the  vile. 
Thus  “  we  must  through  many  tribulations  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God  ” — for  sanctified  affliction 
to  the  believer  is  gain,  and  not  loss.2  It  purifies 
his  nature,  but  preserves  him  unhurt  for  the 
heavenly  garner. 

The  work  of  threshing  is  more  quickly  done  by 

him,  as  he  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  heap.  The  outside  horses 
of  course  have  the  most  travelling  to  do,  and  so  he  frequently 
changes  their  relative  position  by  holding  in  turn  each  of  the  extre¬ 
mities  of  the  rope,  so  that  the  horses  at  the  other  end  of  the  line 
alternately  walk  at  the  circumference  or  at  the  centre  ”  (Bible  Lands 
and  Customs,  by  H.  J.  Van  Lennep,  D.D.,  vol  i.  p.  80). 

2  Acts  xiv.  22  . 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


233 


means  of  these  instruments,  hut  it  would  appear 
that  their  use  was  always  somewhat  rare.  The 
process  of  duly  preparing  the  straw  for  fodder  is 
better  performed  hy  the  hoofs  of  cattle  than  by 
any  mechanical  contrivance.  So  say  the  fellahheen, 
who  point  out  that  in  this  simple  way  not  only  is 
it  chopped  sufficiently  fine,  hut  at  the  same  time 
the  broken  pieces  are  properly  bruised  and  softened, 
and  so  made  more  palatable  as  provender.  Where, 
therefore,  labour  is  cheap,  and  time,  owing  to  pro¬ 
longed  fine  weather  and  the  impossibility  of  plough¬ 
ing  before  the  rain,  not  of  much  consequence,  and 
cattle-food,  consisting  chiefly  of  this  crushed  straw, 
a  very  important  matter,  the  slower  process  came 
naturally  to  he  preferred.  Hence  the  verb  “  to  thresh  ” 
in  Hebrew,  doosh ,x  is  a  word  which  primarily  means 
“  to  trample  down,”  “  to  tread  under  foot.” 2 

When  the  grain  is  all  beaten  out,  and  the  wind 
serves — that  is,  every  day  that  it  blows  from  the 
west  between  noon  and  sunset,  which  it  does  con¬ 
stantly  at  this  season — the  heaps,  now  entirely 
broken  up,  are  tossed  into  the  air  with  a  winnow¬ 
ing  fork.  The  grain,  being  heaviest,  falls  straight 
down;  the  teben,  or  crushed  straw,  being  lighter,  is 
carried  by  the  breeze  and  falls  aslant,  forming  a 

1 

2  Job  xxxix.  15,  “The  wild  beast  may  trample  them;”  Daniel 
vii.  23,  “The  fourth  beast  .  .  .  shall  tread  it  down .” 


23  4 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


heap  a  little  farther  on ;  while  the  chaff,  moatz } 
lighter  even  than  the  straw,  is  carried  farther  still, 
sometimes  forming  a  third  little  heap  by  itself, 
and  sometimes  being  quite  blown  away.  It  will 
be  seen  that  this  adds  a  further  force  to  the  graphic 
representation  of  the  wicked  already  noticed — 

“  They  are  as  crushed  straw  ( teven )  before  the  wind, 

And  as  chaff  (moatz)  that  the  whirlwind  carrieth  away  !  ” 2 

When  thus  separated  from  the  grain,  the  crushed 
straw  is  again  laid  by  itself  on  the  threshing-floor, 
and  further  subjected  for  a  whole  day  to  the  tramp¬ 
ling  of  oxen — for  its  value  entirely  depends  upon  its 
fineness.  This  second  treading-down,  or  threshing, 
of  crushed  straw  by  itself — a  constant  practice 
to  be  witnessed  during  summer  and  autumn  in 
every  village  of  Syria — has  not  yet,  I  believe,  been 
brought  to  the  notice  of  commentators.  My  atten¬ 
tion  was  first  called  to  it  by  purchasing  on  one 
occasion  a  very  inferior  kind  of  teben  for  the  use 
of  my  stables  in  Jerusalem.  Having  shown  a 
specimen  of  this  provender  to  a  fellalili ,  a  neigh¬ 
bouring  farmer,  he  pronounced  it  only  half  pre¬ 
pared,  and  needing  the  usual  second  subjection  to 
the  feet  of  oxen.  At  his  proposal  some  of  his  own 
cattle  were  brought  into  the  city,  and  for  a  con- 
siderable  part  of  a  day  were  driven  round  upon 

1  )‘iD 


2  Job  x.\i.  i  S. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


235 


the  teben,  as  it  lay  spread  upon  the  pavement  of 
my  stable-yard.  At  the  close  of  this  “  treading- 
down  ”  it  was  found  to  be  in  excellent  condition. 
The  fellahh  informed  me  that  the  Syrian  farmers 
constantly  sent  such  half-prepared  teben  into  the 
towns  as  soon  as  the  corn  was  winnowed  out, 
whilst  with  that  reserved  for  their  own  use  they 
were  in  the  habit  of  doing  what  he  had  done  with 
mine. 

This  further  process  throws  light  on  several  pas¬ 
sages  of  Scripture.  Take,  for  instance,  that  merciful 
provision  of  the  law,  “  Thou  slialt  not  muzzle  the 
ox  when  he  treadeth  down  ”  (that  is,  tlireslieth), 
which  is  twice  used  by  the  Apostle  Paul  as  an 
eloquent  allegory  of  the  truth  “  that  the  labourer  is 
worthy  of  his  hire,”  and  the  Christian  minister  of 
support  from  the  Church.1  In  our  version  it  is 
when  “  he  treadeth  out  corny  But  this  word 
“  corn  ”  is  carefully  omitted  in  the  original,  and  has 
been  wrongly  inserted  by  our  translators.  If  the 
ox  is  only  treading  down  teben,  his  own  proper  food, 
from  which  the  grain  has  been  already  removed,  he  is 
equally  to  be  allowed  to  pick  up  what  he  needs,  as 
he  patiently  plods  along,  or  stops  at  intervals  for 
rest.  This  Mosaic  law  is  everywhere  observed  in 

1  Deuteronomy  xxv.  4;  1  Corinthians  ix.  9;  1  Timothy  v.  18. 
The  Greek  word  in  these  two  last  verses  simply  means  “thresh¬ 
ing,”  as  in  the  Hebrew. 


236 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Palestine  by  a  peasantry  wlio  otherwise  are  very 
unmerciful  in  their  treatment  of  dumb  animals. 
The  fellahh  who  employs  his  oxen,  and  sometimes 
his  asses,  in  this  work  of  treading,  will  never 
muzzle  them  at  such  time,  and  he  will  tell  you,  if 
interrogated  on  the  subject,  that  it  is  a  great  sin  to 
do  so. 

Again,  we  read  of  the  destruction  brought  on 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  in  the  days  of  Jehu’s  idola¬ 
trous  son  by  Hazael,  king  of  Syria :  “  And  he 
(Hazael)  left  of  the  people  to  Jelioahaz  only  fifty 
horsemen,  and  ten  chariots,  and  ten  thousand  foot¬ 
men  ;  for  the  king  of  Syria  had  destroyed  them, 
and  had  made  them  like  the  dust  in  threshing.”1 
Here  the  allusion,  probably  a  proverbial  expression, 
refers  only  to  the  crushing  up  into  tiny  pieces  of 
the  heap  of  broken  straw  when  laid  by  itself.  Corn 
is  never  threshed  in  this  way,  for  such  a  treatment 
would  destroy  it.  The  separate  heaps  of  tcben ,  how¬ 
ever,  are  purposely  subjected  to  a  long  and  violent 
treading  down — the  sole  object  in  their  case  being 
to  bruise  them  in  every  part,  and  to  crush  them  to 
atoms.  Another  similar  example  is  furnished  in 
the  passage  of  Isaiah  before  referred  to — 

“  Behold,  I  will  make  thee  into  a  new  sharp  thresliing-sledge 
having  teetli  ; 

1  2  Kings  xiii.  7. 


CEUSHED  STEAW. 


237 


Tliou  shalt  tliresli  mountains,  and  beat  [tliem]  small, 

And  slialt  make  bills  as  chaff ; 

Thou  slialt  fan  them,  and  the  wind  shall  carry  them  away, 

And  the  whirlwind  shall  scatter  them.” 1 

The  comparison  of  mountains  and  hills  to  the 
huge  heaps  on  the  threshing-floor  is  a  hold  and 
striking  figure,  whilst  the  reference  to  the  wind 
carrying  them  away  plainly  identifies  the  heaps  in 
question  with  those  consisting  entirely  of  teben . 
The  whole  process  of  winnowing  in  Palestine  pro¬ 
ceeds,  as  I  have  shown,  on  the  principle  that  the 
wind  is  not  strong  enough  in  the  warm  season, 
except  on  very  rare  occasions,  to  do  this  in  the  case 
of  corn.  The  following  quotation  from  the  prophet 
Micah  requires  the  same  explanation — 

“Arise  and  tread  down,  thou  daughter  of  Zion  ! 

Pori  will  make  thine  horn  iron, 

And  I  will  make  thy  hoofs  copper, 

And  tliou  shalt  beat  in  pieces  many  peoples.”  2 

Here  the  picture  is  that  of  Zion  enabled  at  last 
to  trample  down  her  proud  persecuting  foes,  even  as 
in  threshing  a  powerful  heifer  crushes  under  her 
feet  the  heap  of  broken  straw.  From  all  these  pas¬ 
sages  we  may  draw  the  conclusion  that,  according 
to  the  general  use  of  types  throughout  Scripture  to 
signify  in  each  instance  the  same  thing,  unless  the 
contrary  is  expressly  stated,  tcven,  or  crushed  straw, 

1  Isaiah  xli.  15.  2  Micah  iv.  13. 


238 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


always  occurs  as  a  figure  of  the  wicked,  the  enemies 
of  God  and  His  people. 

In  the  light  of  this  explanation  we  may  now 
turn  to  examine  the  somewhat  difficult  passage  in 
Isaiah  which  stands  at  the  head  of  this  chapter. 
In  our  version  it  reads — 

“  For  in  this  mountain  shall  the  hand  of  the  Lord  res 
And  Moab  shall  he  trodden  down  under  him, 

Even  as  straw  is  trodden  down  for  the  dunghill.” 1 

Many  have  maintained  the  last  words  should  read, 
“  in  the  waters  of-  the  dungpool.”  These  see  in  the 
language  of  the  next  verse — 

“  And  he  shall  spread  forth  his  hands  in  the  midst  of  it, 

As  a  swimmer  spread eth  them  forth  to  swim,” 

a  representation  of  Moab  pressed  down  into  the 
same  pool.  But  this  explanation,  together  with  the 
rendering  of  our  translation  in  the  preceding  verse, 
turns  on  a  misconception.  No  dungpool  exists  in 
Palestine,  much  less  any  treading  down  of  straw  in 
such  a  place.  In  the  corn  lands  and  pastures  no 
manure  requiring  carriage  is  now  used,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  no  such  manure  was 
ever  thought  necessary.  Vast  caves  throughout  the 
mountains  of  Judah,  the  home  of  wild  pigeons,  are 
full  of  guano,  while  some  of  smaller  size,  that  serve 
as  winter  cattle-sheds,  are  not  much  less  rich,  but  all 


1  Isaiah  xxv.  io. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


239 


are  left  undisturbed,  except  such  as  are  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood  of  “  watered  gardens.”  The  carcases  of 
horses,  mules,  asses,  and  even  of  huge  camels,  are  left 
to  rot  where  they  fall  on  the  border  of  the  fields,  no 
one  even  so  much  as  covering  them  with  earth. 
Tew  sights  in  Palestine  seem  stranger  than  this  to  a 

o  o 

Western  eye.  But  for  the  troops  of  hyenas,  jackals, 
and  wild  dogs  that  infest  the  country,  and  the 
immense  number  of  all  kinds  of  huge  vultures  and 
other  carrion  birds,  this  neglect  would  be  a  fruitful 
source  of  pestilence.  In  a  word,  these  wonderfully 
fertile  arable  lands  never  receive  any  manure  that 
requires  to  be  carried.  Excessively  heavy  rains 
and  fierce  heat,  falling  on  a  soil  peculiarly  deep  and 
rich,  and  constantly  crumbling  over  it  the  limestone 
rock  of  which  the  mountains  are  composed,  together 
with  the  fallow  of  a  sabbatic  year,  seem  to  have 
rendered  the  land  abundantly  productive  without 
any  farmyard  or  artificial  dressing.  In  horticulture, 
it  is  true,  manure  is  freely  employed,  but  principally 
dry  goat’s- dung,  and  in  the  north  of  Syria  for  melon 
and  cucumber  beds,  pigeon-dung,  procured  from 
towers  in  which  these  birds  are  fed  and  preserved 
in  vast  numbers  for  this  purpose.1  The  sweepings 
of  stable  or  cowshed  are  esteemed  of  little  value. 
Swine  are  still,  as  anciently,  prohibited  by  cere¬ 
monial  law.  Cowdung  is  commonly  used,  by  the 

1  Isaiah  lx.  8  ;  Luke  xiii.  8. 


240 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


poorest  of  the  people,  when  fashioned  into  cakes  and 
dried  in  the  sun,  but  only  as  fuel.1  Manure  is  never 
manufactured  or  used  in  a  liquid  state.  The  expres¬ 
sion,  “like  dung  on  the  face  of  the  earth,”  may 
allude  to  that  state  of  the  streets  and  byways  in 
the  villages  and  towns,  which  so  shocks  a  traveller 
or  resident  on  his  first  coming  to  the  country.2 
That  for  the  conduct  of  which  careful  sanitary 
provision  was  made  under  the  law  while  Israel  were 
encamped  in  the  desert — a  very  necessary  subject 
for  legislation  amongst  Oriental  nations — now  takes 
place  everywhere  without  what  we  should  consider 
due  regard  either  to  decency  or  cleanliness.3  As 
neither  drainage  nor  cesspools  exist  in  any  of  the 
primitive  towns  or  villages,  this  usage  appears 
ancient,  though  no  doubt  under  a  good  government 
it  was  not  allowed  to  constitute  the  nuisance  which 
it  is  now.  Nothing  therefore  like  the  dungpool  which 
some  commentators  have  imagined  has  any  existence. 
In  each  village  the  refuse  matter  is  thrown  out  on 
to  one  large  heap,  “  the  dunghill  ”  of  Scripture,  very 
wisely  kept  dry,  and  from  time  to  time  publicly 
burnt,  amidst  much  festive  mirth.  Hence,  with  an 
intensity  of  meaning  that  we  are  apt  to  miss,  dung 
stands  in  the  Bible  for  that  which  is  utterly  vile 
and  worthless.4 

1  Ezekiel  iv.  15.  2  2  Kings  ix.  37  ;  Jeremiah  xvi.  4. 

3  Deuteronomy  xxiii.  12,  13.  4  Jobxx.  7. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


24I 


But  to  return  to  the  verse  in  question.  The 
true  translation,  which  will  he  found  suggested  in 
the  margin  of  the  Bible,  is  as  follows : — 

“  And  Moab  shall  "be  trodden  down  under  him, 

Even  as  crushed  straw  is  trodden  down  in  Madmenah.” 1 

This  rendering,  with  reference  to  what  has  gone 
before,  will  be  seen  to  bring  out  a  powerful  and 
consistent  figure,  and  one  in  perfect  keeping  with 
that  of  the  next  verse.  There,  evidently  speaking 
still  of  the  Lord,  it  is  said — 

“  And  lie  shall  spread  forth  his  hands  in  the  midst 
of  it  (Mount  Zion), 

As  a  swimmer  spreadeth  [them]  forth  to  swim. 

And  he  will  bring  down  their  pride, 

Together  with  the  plots  of  their  hands.”  2 

All  swimmers  in  the  East  use  “  hand  over  hand  ” 
swimming,  that  is,  they  raise  each  arm  alternately 
as  high  as  they  can,  and  bring  it  down  upon  the 
water  with  sounding  force.  The  action,  therefore, 
of  stamping  to  pieces  writh  the  feet  in  the  tenth 
verse  is  represented  in  the  next  as  followed  by 

1  The  latter  part  of  the  verse  adopting  the  hen,  which  is  con¬ 
firmed  by  many  of  Kennicott’s  best  codices,  reads  :  •  •  •  2N1D 

— Moav  .  .  .  mathbain  bfono  MacLmainali.  Here 

the  unusual  form  of  mathbain  for  teven,  and  bemo,  the  well-known 
form  of  the  preposition  M  in  an  elevated  style  of  writing,  appear 
plainly  expressions  employed  in  this  place  to  preserve  the  much- 
prized  alliteration  peculiar  to  the  poetry  of  the  prophets. 

2  Isaiah  xxv.  1 1. 

Q 


242 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


repeated  blows  with  the  arm,  even  as  a  swimmer, 
lifting  each  hand  in  turn  above  his  head,  brings 
it  down  with  all  his  might  upon  the  surface  of 
the  water. 

The  place  mentioned  would  naturally  be  the 
Madmen  in  Moab  itself,  for  Madmenah  is  only 
the  feminine  form  of  this  name.1  There  is  reason 
for  supposing  that  the  region  of  Madmen  was  famous 
for  abundant  harvests  of  grain,  and  consequently 
for  extensive  and  well-known  threshing-floors.  The 
Belkci ,  a  high  and  extensive  tableland,  which  forms 
one  of  the  finest  corn-producing  districts  of  Syria,  lies 
here.  Moab,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  throughout 
Scripture  a  special  type  of  the  enemies  of  the  Lord 
and  His  people.  In  this  extended  sense  we  must 
understand  Balaam’s  prophecy  of  Christ — 

C(  And  a  club  ( shaivet )  shall  rise  out  of  Israel  ; 

And  shall  smite  the  corners  of  Moab.” 2 

The  twenty-fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah  looks  beyond  a 
present  deliverance  to  the  final  overthrow  of  the  last 
apostate  faction  by  Messiah  at  His  second  coming, 
and  the  establishment  of  Israel  and  the  Church  in 
everlasting  peace.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  final 
struggle  is  represented  as  taking  place  in  and  around 
Jerusalem.  The  forceful  figures  of  trampling  and 
striking  down  in  the  two  verses  we  have  been  con- 

1  Jeremiah  xlviii,  2.  2  Numbers’bcxiv.  17. 


CRUSHED  STRAW. 


243 


sidering  set  forth  the  defeat  of  the  world  powers, 
and  the  ruin  of  the  finally  impenitent  “  at  the 
revelation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  from  heaven  with  His 
powerful  angels,  in  flaming  fire,  rendering  vengeance 
to  them  that  know  not  God,  and  to  them  that  obey 
not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus.”1  Of  that  time 
He  has  Himself  declared — 

“  1  will  tread  them  in  mine  anger, 

And  trample  them  in  my  fury.”  2 

While  His  judgments  shall  pass  harmlessly  over 
His  own  people  (the  wheat),  who  will  have  been  first 
safely  gathered  into  Llis  garner,  His  enemies  shall 
be  broken  to  atoms  like  the  crushed  and  trodden 
straw ! 

2  Isaiah  lxiii.  3. 


1  2  Thessalonians  i.  7,  8. 


(  244  ) 


CHAPTER  X. 

SIFTING. 

“  For  lo,  I  will  command, 

And  I  will  sift  the  house  of  Israel  among  all  the 
nations, 

As  [corn]  is  sifted  in  a  sieve, 

And  not  a  small  stone  shall  fall  upon  the  earth.  ” 

— Amos  ix.  9, 

Corn  in  Palestine,  after  it  lias  undergone  the  highly 
primitive  processes  of  threshing  and  winnowing,  de¬ 
scribed  in  the  last  chapter,  comes  into  the  market 
in  a  mixed  and  unclean  condition.  Dust  and  stones 
of  the  open-air  threshing-floor,  light  and  damaged 
grains  of  wheat,  a  small  sprinkling  of  barley,  and 
seeds  of  several  wild  grasses,  notably  the  black 
zowan,  the  bitter  and  poisonous  “  tares  ”  of  Scripture, 
which  when  first  growing  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  wheat,  mingle  largely  in  the  samples 
offered  for  sale  in  the  bazaars.  Neither  the  agri¬ 
culturist  nor  the  merchant  cleans  the  corn,  and  it  is 
this  fact  that  has  to  a  great  extent  discredited  the 
splendid  wheat  of  Syria  in  English  markets,  But 


SIFTING. 


245 


this  forms  no  drawback  to  the  consumer  in  the 
Holy  Land,  who  lays  in  his  annual  stock  of  grain 
after  each  year’s  harvest,  and,  so  that  there  be  good 
wheat  and  a  sufficient  proportion  of  it  in  that  which 
he  purchases,  makes  but  little  account  of  what  else 
it  may  contain.  The  fact  is  that  the  separation  of 
the  refuse  from  the  corn  is  regularly  made  from 
time  to  time  in  each  household.  Among  the  poor 
this  is  made  by  the  husband  or  wife,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  well-to-do  by  their  servants,  or  more 
generally  by  those  workpeople,  male  and  female, 
who  make  this  a  special  branch  of  labour.  Hence 
arises  the  distinct  process  of  sifting,  which,  although 
it  is  to  be  observed  going  on  all  the  year  round  in 
most  families  throughout  the  land,  forming  a  very 
striking  and  marked  feature  of  Palestine  life,  I  do 
not  remember  to  have  seen  anywhere  described.  It 
is  very  vividly  impressed  on  my  memory  as  one  of  the 
novel  and  deeply-interesting  sights  with  which  I  soon 
became  familiar  in  our  parsonage  home  on  Mount  Zion. 

The  sieve  used  for  this  purpose,  called  ghurbal , 
though  shallow,  is  a  very  large  one — about  an  Eastern 
yard,  that  is,  two  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter.  The 
native  woman  seats  herself  on  the  floor,  generally 
in  the  courtyard  of  the  house,  with  her  feet  spread 
widely  apart,  and  holds  the  sieve  half  full  of  wheat 
between  her  two  hands.  She  begins  the  process,  in 
which  great  dexterity  is  displayed,  by  shaking  the 


246 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


ghurbcd  from  right  to  left  six  or  seven  times,  till  all 
the  crushed  straw  and  the  chaff  that  still  remains  in 
the  corn  comes  to  the  surface,  most  of  which  she  is 
able  to  gather  up  and  throw  away.  Then  she  com¬ 
mences  to  hold  the  sieve  in  a  slanting  position,  and 
for  a  considerable  length  of  time  jerks  it  up  and 
down,  blowing  vigorously  across  it  all  the  while  with 
her  mouth.  This  part  of  the  manipulation,  which 
is  most  skilfully  performed,  has  three  results.  First, 
the  dust,  earth,  barley,  and  small  grains  of  wheat 
fall  through  the -meshes  of  the  sieve  on  the  ground 
between  her  feet.  Next,  chiefly  by  means  of  the  blow¬ 
ing,  the  remaining  teben  and  chaff  is  either  dispersed 
or  collected  in  that  part  of  the  ghurbcd  which  is 
farthest  from  her.  Thirdly,  the  best  of  the  wheat 
goes  to  the  bottom  in  one  heap,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  small  stones  are  collected  together  in  a 
little  pile  by  themselves,  on  that  part  of  the  sieve 
which  is  nearest  to  her  chest.  She  then  removes 
with  her  hands  the  stones,  teben,  and  chaff*.  After 
this  she  sets  the  ghurbcd  down,  and  carefully  going 
over  the  corn  picks  out  any  impurities  which  may 
yet  remain.  The  “sifting”  is  then  complete.  The 
refuse  that  has  fallen  through  the  sieve  in  a  heap 
between  her  feet  is  again  subjected  to  a  similar  ope¬ 
ration  in  a  finer  ghurbcd.  The  best  part  of  it,  con¬ 
sisting  of  some  grains  of  light  wheat  mixed  with 

OO  O 

barley,  called  rdddyed,  is  generally  ground  and 


A  BETHLEHEM  WOMAN  SIFTING  WHEAT. 


SIFTING. 


249 


baked  separately,  while  the  remaining  mixture,  com¬ 
posed  of  very  small  grains  of  wheat,  black  zowan , 
or  tares,  and  other  grass  seeds,  is  used  to  feed  fowls. 

Often  have  I  stood  to  watch  this  primitive  but 
dexterous  process,  which,  as  it  is  the  same  in  every 
part  of  the  land,  is  in  all  probability  that  to  which 
Divine  allusion  is  twice  made  in  the  Scriptures.1  It 

1  Amos  ix.  9  ;  Luke  xxii.  31.  The  passage  in  Isaiah  where,  in 
our  version,  Jehovah  is  said  to  threaten  to  “  sift  ”  the  nations  who 
are  gathered  together  at  Armageddon  against  restored  Israel  “  with 
the  sieve  of  vanity,”  is  clearly  a  misrendering,  and  appears  to  have 
no  reference  to  the  sifting  which  is  described  above.  The  verse, 
Isaiah  xxx.  28,  is  literally — 

“And  his  breath  [is]  as  an  overflowing  stream, 

That  reacheth  even  to  the  neck  ; 

To  shake  the  nations  witli  an  emptying  shaking ; 

And  a  bridle  shall  he  in  the  jaws  of  the  peoples,  leading  them 
astray.’’ 

There  are  two  images  of  destruction  employed  here— a  deep  flood 
and  a  mighty  wind.  Streams  which  suddenly  form  in  the  valleys, 
when  swollen  by  winter  storms,  rise  with  fearful  rapidity  as  high 
as  a  man’s  neck,  and  sweep  away  all  before  them.  With  such  sud¬ 
denness  and  overwhelming  destruction  a  burning  blast  sent  by  God 
shall  blow  upon  the  assembled  hosts  with  a  blowing  that  shall 
empty  their  ranks,  as  when  at  winnowing- time  the  shirocco  in  its 
boisterous  form  arises  ;  and  this  wild  east  wind  scatters  far  and 
wide  the  heaps  of  chaff  and  crushed  straw.  A  deadly  wind  seems 
certainly  to  have  been  instrumental  in  the  destruction  of  Senna¬ 
cherib’s  host,— a  judgment  no  doubt  typical  of  the  destruction  of 
the  last  of  Israel’s  foes.  God  says  of  this  Assyrian  invader,  in 
Isaiah  xxxvii.  7,  29 — 

“  I  will  send  a  blast  upon  him  ;  ”  s 

“  I  will  put  my  ring  in  thy  nose,  and  my  bridle  in  thy  lips, 

And  I  will  turn  thee  back :  ” 

as  if  in  allusion  to  the  threatening  in  Isaiah  xxx.  28.  A  burning 


250 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  bolder  or  more  ap¬ 
propriate  figure  of  searching  and  ceaseless  trial. 
Under  this  representation  the  prophet  Amos  foretold 
the  eighteen  centuries  of  persecution  and  suffering 
which  the  Jews  have  so  terribly  experienced — 
“For  lo,  I  will  command, 

And  I  will  sift  tlie  house  of  Israel  among  all  the 
nations, 

As  [corn]  is  sifted  in  a  sieve, 

And  not  a  small  stone  shall  fall  upon  the  earth.” *  1 

shirocco  wind  of  more  than  ordinary  vehemence  has  been  known  to 
prove  as  fatal  as  the'  simoon  of  the  desert,  and  probably  by  some 
such  “blast”  upon  their  exposed  camp  the  185,000  troops  of  Sen¬ 
nacherib  met  their  death  (Isaiah  xxxvii.  36). 

1  Amos  ix.  9.  The  word  I  have  translated  “small  stone”  is  the 
Hebrew  "111 V,  tzh'oar ,  the  diminutive  of  11 X.  tzoor,  a  rock  or 
stone.  This  is  plainly  the  sense  in  2  Samuel  xvii.  13,  where 
Hushai  uses  the  hyperbolical  figure  of  drawing  a  whole  city  with 
ropes  into  the  adjacent  river,  “  until  there  be  not  even  a  small  stone 
( tseroar )  found  there.”  It  is  most  probable  that  the  word  in  its 
other  sense,  as  derived  from  a  root  which  means  “  stone,”  should  be 
“  lump  ”  rather  than  “  bundle,”  in  those  passages  where  the  latter 
rendering  now  occurs  (1  Samuel  xxv.  29;  Job  xiv.  17;  Canticles 
i.  13).  Lieutenant  Conder,  R.E.,  while  working  on  the  survey  of 
Palestine,  made  an  interesting  discovery  of  this  word  which  he  found 
unknown  to  educated  Arabic-speaking  townspeople,  but  used  still 
by  the  fellaliheen  with  its  old  technical  meaning.  The  following 
has  appeared  amongst  Notes  from  the  Memoir  of  the  Map  : — Surdr. 
A  good  instance  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  peasant  language  is  fur¬ 
nished  by  this  word.  A  native  of  Beyrout  called  on  me,  and  I 
asked  him  if  he  knew  what  the  word  meant.  Though  an  educated 
man,  he  could  not  tell  ;  but  Mr.  Bergheim,  who  lives  amongst  the 
peasantry,  informs  me  that  it  means  “pebbles.”  Thus  the  word, 
unknown  to  the  townsmen,  but  retained  amongst  the  peasantry 
is  the  Hebrew  tzh'oar,  “  a  pebble.  ” 


SIFTING. 


251 


The  “  tribes  of  the  wandering  foot  and  weary 
breast  ”  have  been  dispersed  into  every  land,  and 
yet  have  failed  to  find  anywhere  a  place  of  quiet 
habitation.  Driven  hither  and  thither,  now  the 
victims  of  avaricious  kings  and  nobles,  and  now  the 
sport  of  a  cruel  and  ignorant  populace,  they  have 
been  like  wheat  tossed  in  a  sieve.  Theirs  has  been 
a  history  of  unrest  without  a  parallel  in  the  life  of 
any  other  people.  Truly  they  have  been  sifted 
“  among  all  the  nations — 

O 

(  As  [com]  is  sifted  in  a  sieve.5  ” 

And  yet  He  who  gave  the  “  command  ”  for  this  has 
done  so  not  with  a  view  to  their  destruction,  but 
to  their  purification.  Most  appropriately  has  He 
likened  the  painful  discipline  to  which  He  has 
subjected  them  to  “sifting,”  for  His  purpose  in  it 
throughout  has  been  to  prepare  them  to  take  their 
place  amongst  the  good  wheat.  From  time  to  time 
“  the  good  seed,”  “  the  children  of  the  kingdom,” 
“  the  remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace,” 
have  been  gathered  out  of  them,  and  added  to  the 
Church  of  the  Firstborn.  But  even  the  hard-hearted, 
stony-ground  members  of  this  marvellously  preserved 
people,  though  worthless  as  the  pebbles  amongst 
the  grain,  have  not  been  allowed  to  perish,  for  so 
have  been  fulfilled  the  words — 


“  And  not  a  small  stone  shall  fall  upon  the  earth.” 


252 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Through  all,  the  Hebrew  race  has  remained  intact, 
a  standing  miracle  of  Divine  providence  in  the 
sight  of  the  whole  world.  What  other  people 
have  survived  the  loss  of  their  national  polity, 
their  land,  their  liberty,  and  the  favour  and  respect 
of  all  their  fellow-men,  among  whom  they  have 
been  a  “  byword,  a  hissing,  and  a  reproach  ”  ? 
Yet  this  has  been  the  case  with  the  sifted  seed 
of  Abraham,  and  in  their  miraculous  preservation 
they  stand  as  a  lonely  but  living  monument  of 
hoary  antiquity  to  attest  the  truth  of  the  Bible. 

The  same  figure  is  employed  with  equal  force 
in  our  Lord’s  warning  words  to  Peter.  “  Simon, 
Simon,”  the  Master  declared,  “  behold,  Satan 
asked  to  have  you,  that  he  might  sift  you  as 
wheat.” 1  The  bold,  loving,  and  impetuous  dis¬ 
ciple,  at  the  moment  when  he  was  thus  addressed, 
had  nerved  himself  for  an  act  of  heroism,  and  in 
vain  self-confidence  thought  himself  fully  equal  to 
its  performance.  In  answer  to  this  solemn  warn¬ 
ing,  he  replied  earnestly,  “Lord,  with  thee  I  am 
ready  to  go  both  to  prison  and  to  death.”  Brave 
indeed  he  was  at  the  arrest  in  the  garden  of  Geth- 
semane,  and,  had  this  been  the  climax,  as  he  sprung 
forth,  sword  in  hand,  to  defend  his  Lord,  he  would 
have  been  in  no  danger  of  denying  Him.2  But 
Peter  little  knew  the  subtlety  of  that  arch-foe, 

1  Luke  xxii.  31. 


2  John  xviii.  10. 


SIFTING. 


whom  more  than  the  cunning  of  Jewish  priests, 
or  the  violence  of  Eoman  soldiers,  he  had  cause 
to  fear.  A  night  of  terrible  confusion  and  anxiety 
followed,  a  night  of  slow  anguish  and  great  per¬ 
plexity,  during  which  our  Blessed  Lord  was  hurried 
from  one  hostile  tribunal  to  another,  and  sudden 
surprises  followed  in  swift  succession.  Introduced 
after  dark  into  the  high  priest’s  palace,  the  humble 
fisherman  of  Galilee  found  himself  in  very  new 
and  untried  circumstances.  Characters  naturally 
sanguine,  bold,  and  impetuous,  like  that  of  Peter, 
are  almost  always  deficient  in  the  quality  of  patient 
endurance,  "which,  humanly  speaking,  alone  could 
have  enabled  him  to  bear  up  against  the  long  and 
unexpected  terrors  and  humiliations  of  that  weary 
night.  Satan  was  thus,  with  fiend-like  malice, 
“  sifting  ”  the  disciple  of  Christ.  He  was  keeping 
him  constantly  tossed  about,  as  skilfully  and  dili¬ 
gently  as  an  experienced  sifter  keeps  the  contents 
of  a  sieve  of  wheat  continually  moving.  He  wras 
thus  seeking  to  find  out  and  bring  to  the  surface 
all  that  was  bad  and  worthless  in  the  apostle’s 
character,  and  we  know  that  his  hellish  exploit 
succeeded.  Well  was  it  for  the  tried  disciple  that 
he  was  enjoying  the  inestimable  benefit  of  Jesus’ 
special  intercession,  that  the  Lord  had  prayed  for 
him  that  his  faith  might  not  utterly  fail,  and  that 
this  sad  experience  might  be  made  the  means  of 


254 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


lxis  true  conversion.  Satan’s  malice  was  baffled, 
and  Peter  went  out  from  the  high  priest’s  palace 
not  only  a  sadder,  but  a  wiser  and  a  better  man. 
Satan’s  cruel  and  malicious  dealings  with  Peter 
were  thus  overruled  by  God,  to  the  true  end  for 
which  all  sifting  is  employed,  namely,  the  purifica¬ 
tion  of  that  which  is  subjected  to  the  process.  The 
devil  was  seeking  to  bring  to  light  the  corruptions 
of  Peter’s  heart,  in  order  to  pour  contempt  on 
the  truth  in  the  person  of  one  of  its  most  eminent 
professors,  and  in  order  to  destroy  the  apostle  him¬ 
self  by  driving  him  to  despair  through  the  display 
of  his  sinfulness.  This  is  his  cunning  and  wicked 
design  in  all  the  temptations  and  perplexities  with 
which  he  is  allowed  to  vex  the  children  of  men. 
But  the  omnipotent  grace  of  Him  who  is  stronger 
than  the  strong  is  ever  bringing  good  out  of  evil, 
and  even  Satan,  in  His  mighty  hand,  becomes  only 
a  blundering  slave  to  sift  the  wheat,  that  is  thus, 
as  by  a  final  process,  prepared  for  the  Master’s 
use  ! 


(  35  5  ) 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  SHEPHERD' S  CLUB  AND  STAFF . 

“  Thy  club  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me.” 

— Psalm  xxiii.  4. 

The  Syrian  shepherd  has  two  implements  of  his 
calling,  neither  of  which  is  wanting  when  lie  is  on 
full  duty.  If  his  scanty  dress  is  examined,  it  may 
be  seen  to  consist  of  a  Jcamise ,  or  unbleached  calico 
shirt,  gathered  in  round  the  waist  by  a  strong  red 
leather  belt.1  Hung  to  this  belt,  athe  leathern 

1  Over  the  Jcamise ,  in  wet  or  cold  weather,  and  during  the  night, 
the  shepherd,  like  all  other  peasants,  wears  a  thick,  warm,  sleeveless, 
sack-like  outer  garment,  made  of  camel’s-hair,  invariable  as  to 
material,  shape,  and  colour,  the  latter  being  dark  brown  of  different 
shades,  with  whitish  perpendicular  stripes.  This  is  the  common 
overcoat  of  the  agricultural  labourer  and  of  all  the  working  classes 
of  the  country  districts.  In  allusion  to  the  proverbial  ease  with 
which  this  loose  simple  garment  is  put  on,  it  is  said  that  Nebuchad¬ 
nezzar  shall  “  array  himself  with  the  land  of  Egypt,”  that  is,  possess 
himself  of  its  spoils,  “  as  a  shepherd  putteth  on  his  outer  garment 
( beged )  ”  (Jeremiah  xliii.  12).  When  we  read  that  John  the  Baptist 
had  “his  outer  garment  of  camel’s-hair,  and  a  leathern  girdle,”  it  is 
the  same  as  saying  that  he  went  about  dressed  not  like  a  well-to-do 
priest,  but  like  a  poor  peasant ;  and  with  this  agrees  the  statement 
that  his  food  was  “  locust  beans  and  wild  honey  ”  (Matthew  iii.  4). 


256  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

girdle  ”  of  Scripture,1  which  all  workmen  or  labourers 
wear,  beside  his  rude  clasp-knife  and  small  leather 
pouch,  or  “  scrip,”  is  a  formidable  weapon  of  defence, 
a  stout  bludgeon  now  called  in  Arabic  naboot,  used 
to  protect  himself  and  his  charge  from  assailants. 
It  is  generally  made  of  a  species  of  oak  that  is 
to  be  found  in  fine  park-like  groves  on  the  high¬ 
lands  of  Gilead  and  Baslian.  It  is  about  two  feet 
long,  and  often  has  a  large  number  of  heavy  iron 
nails  driven  into  its  rounded  head,  which  render  it, 
in  the  hands  of  an  expert,  a  very  deadly  arm.  Some¬ 
times  it  is  fashioned  from  a  species  of  willow  called 
saphsaph,  most  probably  the  once-mentioned  tzaph- 
tzaphah2  and  then  it  is  highly  prized.  This  white 
wood  is  peculiarly  light,  and  at  the  same  time 
exceedingly  tough  and  strong.  The  club  is  easily 
attached  to  the  belt,  being  furnished  with  a  noose 
of  cord  passed  through  a  hole  in  the  end  by  which 
it  is  grasped.  It  may  often  be  seen  hanging  in  this 
way  from  the  shepherd’s  girdle  during  the  daytime, 
but  at  night  he  carries  it  in  his  hand. 

The  nature  of  the  pastures  in  Palestine  and 
throughout  the  East  accounts  for  this  strange 
adjunct  to  a  peaceful  calling.  These  are  altogether 
different  from  ordinary  English  grazing  grounds. 
Grass  is  never  sown  or  cultivated  as  in  the  West. 
The  rich  spontaneous  growth  of  the  arable  plains 

1  Matthew  iii.  4  ;  Mark  i.  6.  2  mQXSX.  Ezekiel  xvii.  5. 


FORMS  OF  THE  SHEPHERD’S  SHAIVET  CR  OAK  CLUB. 


R 


' 


% 


tiie  shepherd’s  club  and  staff.  259 

affords  good  feed,  and  for  a  portion  of  the  year 
the  flocks  can  he  kept  on  this  supply.  For  two 
months  in  spring  they  can  he  turned  out  upon  those 
fields  which,  being  kept  for  summer  crops,  are  not 
sown  till  late  in  April.  In  autumn  they  can  be 
transferred  to  the  stubble-lands  from  which  the 
winter  crop  has  been  reaped.  But  these  are  not, 
strictly  speaking,  the  proper  pastures  of  Palestine. 
Such  pastures  invariably  consist  of  lonely,  unfenced, 
desert  hills,  where  the  sheep  are  constantly  exposed 
to  a  double  danger — peril  of  wild  beasts,  and  peril 
of  robbers.  It  is  in  obvious  allusion  to  this  that 
David,  comparing  himself  to  a  sheep  with  Jehovah 
for  his  shepherd,  says — 

“  Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me  in  the  presence  of 
mine  enemies.”  1 

These  dusty,  barren,  rocky  wildernesses  abound 
for  the  most  part  in  caves  and  hiding-places,  which 
render  them  the  more  insecure,  since  such  of  these 
spots  as  can  be  easily  defended  are  still,  as  in  the 
days  of  Saul,  from  time  to  time  the  resort  of  bands 
of  reckless  and  desperate  outlaws.  Ho  dwelling  is 
to  be  seen  there  for  a  distance  of  many  square  miles, 
save  the  low  black  tents  of  equally  lawless  Bcdawccn 
Arabs,  whose  “  hand  is  against  every  man,”  that  is, 
who  are  a  powerful  organised  confederacy  of  robbers. 
Ho  cultivation  is  attempted,  and  the  bold  shepherd 

1  Psalm  xxiii.  5. 


26o 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


alone  of  all  dwellers  in  town  or  village  frequents 
the  spot.  Such  an  ordinary  slieep-rnn,  the  wilder¬ 
ness  of  Judea,  extends  for  fifteen  miles  from  Jeru¬ 
salem  to  Jericho,  and,  though  traversed  by  an  im¬ 
portant  highway,  was,  and  still  is,  a  very  dangerous 
place.  The  outlaws,  and  the  nomad  and  semi¬ 
nomad  Arabs,  who  wander,  like  David  and  his 
exile  band,  over  these  wild  pasture  -  lands,  are 
seldom  so  scrupulous  as  the  followers  of  the  future 
kinq;  of  Israel.  When  the  son  of  Jesse  sent  to 
ISTabal,  who  fed'  his  sheep  at  Carmel,  the  modern 
Kurmul ,  some  eight  miles  south  of  Hebron,  on  the 
border  of  this  same  Judean  wilderness,  to  ask  for 
a  customary  backsheesh ,  or  present,  at  shearing  time, 
he  did  so  on  the  following  grounds  :  “  Thy  shepherds 
who  were  with  us,  we  hurt  them  not,  neither  was 
there  aught  missing  to  them,  all  the  days  they  wTere 
in  Carmel.”  1  Inmates  of  some  other  similar  camps 
would  not  have  been  so  forbearing,  and  the  occa¬ 
sional  presence  of  such  wanderers  in  all  the  prin¬ 
cipal  pastures  explains  the  stalwart  shepherd’s  need 
of  a  weapon  of  defence. 

Wild  animals,  or  “beasts  of  the  field,”  constitute 
perhaps  a  still  greater  danger.  These  to  this  day 
infest  all  the  pastures.  The  screech  of  the  hyena, 
and  the  yell  of  the  jackal,  may  even  be  heard 
around  the  very  walls  of  Jerusalem.  Fierce  Syrian 

1  I  Samuel  xxv.  7. 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF.  26  I 

bears  and  powerful  hunting  leopards  prowl  in  the 
less  frequented  parts.  The  lion  is  now  never  met 
with  west  of  the  Jordan,  hut  was  once  the  terror 
of  the  deserts  of  the  land  of  Israel.1  Wolves  also 
were  common  in  former  times,  and  are  still  encoun¬ 
tered.2  These  wildernesses,  too,  are  the  home  of 
several  very  venomous  reptiles,  which  in  the  hot 
season  revel  in  their  crumbled  rocks,  dust,  and  heat. 
Dr.  Tristram,  speaking  of  Palestine,  says  :  “  The  lime¬ 
stone  rocks  and  chalky  hills  afford  the  cover  and 
security,  both  in  summer  and  winter,  in  which  the 
serpent  tribe  delights.  Under  such  circumstances 
they  are  quickened  into  a  dangerous  activity,  and 
their  poison  becomes  very  malignant.”  There  is  the 
well-known  Cobra  di  capello,  and  also  the  Cerastes 
or  horned  viper.  This  latter,  though  it  rarely  ex¬ 
ceeds  eighteen  inches  in  length,  is  a  much-dreaded 
reptile.  It  has  a  practice  of  lying  in  ambush  in 
pathways,  and  darting  out  on  any  passing  animal. 
It  is  probably  the 

“  Adder  in  the  path, 

That  biteth  the  horse’s  heels,”  3 

to  which  Dan  was  likened  on  account  of  the  acts 

1  Judges  xiv.  5  ;  1  Samuel  xvii.  34  ;  2  Samuel  xxiii.  20  ;  I  Kings 
xiii.  24  ;  2  Kings  xvii.  25. 

2  Isaiah  xi.  6;  Jeremiah  v.  6;  Matthew  vii.  15;  Luke  x.  3; 
John  x.  12,  &c. 

3  Genesis  xlix.  17. 


262 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


of  fierceness,  cruelty,  and  treachery  which  were 
committed  hy  that  tribe.  It  is  so  venomous  that 
death  ensues  in  less  than  half-an-liour  after  its  bite, 
and  it  is  more  vicious  than  even  the  cobra,  for  it 
will  attack  unprovoked.  The  great  yellow  viper, 
beautifully  marked,  and  the  largest  of  its  tribe  in 
Palestine,  is  also  to  he  met  wTith,  and  is  especially 
“  dangerous  from  its  size  and  nocturnal  habits.”  A 
whitish-yellow  scorpion  abounds,  and  the  larger 
and  more  deadly  black  species  sometimes  occurs. 
Huge  birds  of  prey,  with  the  formidable  lammer- 
geyer  at  their  head,  still  hover  above  the  deserts, 
out  of  sight  at  ordinary  times,  but  ready,  with 
lightning  speed,  to  swoop  down  on  the  faint 
amongst  the  flock,  or  even  to  do  desperate  battle 
with  the  shepherd  himself.  Hence  the  obvious 
need  of  his  being  armed ;  and  the  principal  weapon 
which  he  carries,  indeed  often  the  only  one  besides 
a  sling,  is  the  club,  or  bludgeon,  described  above. 

The  guardian  of  the  flock  also  carries  a  long 
shepherd’s  staff1,  called  ccssaycth.  Sometimes,  though 
this  is  rare,  it  has  a  curved  handle,  but  in  general 
it  is  simply  a  straight  strong  rod.  Its  use  answers 
to  that  of  our  shepherd’s  crook,  namely,  to  guide 
the  sheep,  to  rescue  them  from  danger,  to  rule  the 
stragglers  into  order,  and  at  times  to  chastise  the 
wilful.  Thus  the  Palestine  shepherd  bears  about 
with  him  a  “  club  ”  and  a  “  staff,”  two  entirely  dif- 


THE  SHEPHERD'S  CLUB  AND  STAEF.  263 

ferent  instruments,  with  distinct  and  special  uses, 
but  both  employed  in  caring  for  the  sheep. 

This  conveys  the  full  meaning  of  the  royal 
Psalmist,  the  once  valiant  shepherd-boy,  when  he 
writes  under  inspiration — 

“  Thy  club  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me.” 1 

Jehovah’s  club,  that  is,  His  arm  of  power,  will  beat 
down  every  foe.  The  good  shepherd  at  the  approach 
of  an  enemy  starts  up,  drops  his  staff,  or,  for 
greater  safety,  thrusts  it  down  his  hack  under  his 
kamise,  and  seizing  his  bludgeon,  and  securing  it 
to  his  wrist  by  the  noose,  in  order  that  it  may  not 
be  lost  if  struck  out  of  his  hand,  stands  prepared 
to  fight  to  the  death  with  Bedaween  or  bear  to 
protect  his  charge.  “  The  great  shepherd  of  the 
sheep,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,”  is  not  less  mindful  of 
His  flock.  When  He  did  battle  with  the  powers 
of  darkness  for  their  salvation,  He  laid  down  His 
precious  life.  This  is  the  aspect  of  His  work  as 
“  the  Good  Shepherd,”  so  strange  to  us,  but  so 
familiar  to  an  Eastern,  on  which  the  Lord  dwells 
in  the  fourth  gospel :  “  I  am  the  good  shepherd : 
the  good  shepherd  layeth  down  his  life  for  the 
sheep.  He  that  is  a  hireling,  and  not  a  shepherd, 
whose  own  the  sheep  are  not,  beholdeth  the  wolf 
coming,  and  leaveth  the  sheep,  and  fleeth,  and  the 

1  Psalm  xxiii.  4. 


264 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


wolf  snatcheth  them,  and  scattereth  them.  ...  I 
lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep.  .  .  .  Tor  this 
cause  doth  the  Father  love  me,  because  I  lay 
down  my  life.”  1  Of  Him  who  “  was  dead  and  is 
alive  ”  we  may  still  say  with  Nehemiah,  “  Our  God 
will  fight  for  us.”  2  The  day,  too,  is  coming  when 
Messiah  at  His  second  Advent  shall  “  break,”  or 
rather,  as  it  should  be,  shall  “  shepherd  ”  all  His 
enemies  and  ours  with  a  “  club  of  iron.” 3  But  the 
Lord  has  also  a  pastoral  staff.  With  this  He  guides 
us  by  the  way,  helps  our  infirmities,  chastens  us 
when  we  wander,  rescues  us  from  peril,  and  leads 
us  back  into  the  “  paths  of  righteousness.”  0  Thou 
Good  Shepherd!  “thy  club  and  thy  staff” — Thy 
power  and  goodness,  Thy  might  and  mercy,  both 
alike  necessary  for  my  preservation  in  this  wilder¬ 
ness — “  they  comfort  me  !  ” 

The  club  and  staff  are  mentioned  as  being  of 
special  comfort  in  a  dark,  narrow  valley. 

“Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  ravine 
of  the  shadow  of  death, 

I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  thou  art  with  me, 

Thy  club  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me.”  4 

1  John  x.  1 1— 1 7.  2  Nehemiah  iv.  20.  3  Psalm  ii.  9. 

4  Psalm  xxiii.  4.  The  word  translated  “  valley  ”  here  in  our  version, 
gay,  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  ’ aivieJc ,  a  broad 

plain  amongst  surrounding  mountains,  and  from  nyp2  bik’ah,  like 
the  same  Arabic  term,  a  long  deep  plain  or  cleavage  between  two 
parallel  lines  of  mountain  ;  and  also  from  /H3  nahlicd,  which  an- 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF. 


265 


This  scarcely  seems  to  signify  the  actual  dissolu¬ 
tion  of  the  body,  although  the  words  may  be  thus 
applied.  It  would  appear  more  properly  to  mean 
any  season  of  gloom  or  imminent  danger.  The 
figure — a  very  familiar  one  to  the  dweller  amid 
the  fastnesses  of  Judea,  and  one  which  must  have 
stamped  itself  with  indelible  force  upon  the  mind 
of  David,  the  whole  of  whose  earlier  life  was  passed 

swers  to  the  Arabic  wady,  a  long  winding  valley  of  whatever  shape 
which  bears  a  winter  watercourse.  Indeed,  these  various  terms, 
which  are  all  alike  translated  “  valley  ”  in  our  version,  are  used  in 
the  Old  Testament  with  the  greatest  precision,  and  are  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  singular  power  and  minute  accuracy  of  the 
Hebrew  language.  As  distinguished  from  the  other  words  for  val¬ 
ley,  a  gay  is  a  ravine,  or  gorge-like  glen.  These  deep,  narrow  glens 
abound  in  the  central  districts  of  the  country,  and  form  a  very  pic¬ 
turesque  and  characteristic  feature  of  Palestine  highland  scenery. 
The  Valley  of  the  Son  of  Hinnotn  is  always  called  a  gay — in  one 
place  it  is  spoken  of  as  “the  gay  ”  (Jeremiah  ii.  23)  ;  and  the  word 
used  in  the  New  Testament  for  hell,  Gehenna,  is  only  another 
form  of  Gay  Hinnom.  It  came  to  bear  this  awful  character  from  its 
having  been  in  former  times  the  scene  of  the  hideous  fiery  worship 
of  Moloch  (2  Kings  xxiii.  10  ;  Jeremiah  vii.  31,  32) ;  and  also  from 
Tophet  being  here,  the  place  of  filth  and  refuse,  this  name  being 
apparently  derived  from  HSiy  thophet,  “an  object  of  loathing” 
(Job  xvii.  6).  Carcases  and  other  refuse  and  filthy  matter  were 
brought  to  this  spot,  and  consumed  upon  fires  kept  constantly  burn¬ 
ing  for  that  purpose.  See  Jeremiah  xix.  11,  12,  13,  and  also  the 
allusion  in  Isaiah  xxx.  33 — 

“  For  long  ago  hath  Tophet  been  ready, 

Yea,  for  the  king  hath  it  been  prepared  ; 

It  is  made  deep  and  broad, 

Its  pile  is  fire  and  wood  in  abundance  ; 

The  breath  of  Jehovah,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone, 
doth  kindle  it.’’ 


266 


PALESTINE  EXPLOITED. 


amongst  such  surroundings — is  that  of  a  dark  rocky 
defile,  where  the  path  narrows,  the  cliffs  tower  over¬ 
head,  and  where  the  trembling  sheep  lost  upon  the 
mountains  is  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  assaults  of 
enemies.  Places  of  this  kind  occur  repeatedly  in 
the  gorges  with  which  the  wilderness  pastures 
abound,  and  the  well  -  known  going  down  from 
Jerusalem  to  Jericho  affords  several  striking 
examples.  Huge  hyenas,  deadly  foes  to  the  flock, 
which  hunt  at  night  in  small  packs,  some  going 
before  and  some  waiting  behind,  easily  entrap  the 
sheep  in  these  narrow,  dark  ravines.  David,  there¬ 
fore,  when  declaring  his  fearlessness  what  time  he 
has  to  go  through  “the  ravine  of  the  shadow  of 
death,”  is  by  a  bold  and  beautiful  metaphor  express¬ 
ing  his  confidence  in  Jehovah’s  protection  in  every 
time  of  danger.  Death  certainly  is  to  most  men 
such  a  season,  and  moreover  Satan  often  makes  a 
last  furious  onslaught  against  the  dying  believer  to 
distress  if  he  cannot  destroy  him.  But  the  Good 
Shepherd  is  at  this  supreme  moment  very  near  to 
those  who  look  to  Him;  and,  while  they  receive 
comfort  from  the  support  of  His  exceeding  great  and 
precious  promises  as  from  a  staff  on  which  they 
may  safely  lean,  they  receive  comfort  also  from  the 
mace  of  His  mighty  power,  which  drives  back  the 
enemies  of  God  and  man,  and  thus  guards  them  in 
the  hour  of  life’s  latest  peril ! 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF.  2  67 

On  turning  to  the  original,  this  distinction  be¬ 
tween  the  shepherd’s  two  implements  is  fully  con¬ 
firmed.  David  uses  two  different  words.  The  first 
is  shaivet ,l  which,  by  changes  natural  to  Hebrew, 
becomes  shaibt,  or  saibt,  and  hence,  doubtless,  comes 
our  “  sceptre,”  by  which  it  is  frequently  rendered 
in  the  English  version.  The  strong,  tapering,  oak 
club  of  the  shepherd,  with  its  rounded  head  studded 
with  powerful  iron  nails,  is  the  simple  origin  of  the 
royal  sceptre.  Shaivet  occurs  more  than  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  thirty  times  for  “  tribe,”  the  idea  being 
derived  from  the  sceptre  borne  by  its  chief.  When 
used  in  war,  it  was  made  of  iron ;  and  clubs,  or 
maces,  of  this  kind,  always  armed  with  lance-like 
projections ,  are  still  to  be  seen  throughout  Palestine. 
They  often  appear  conspicuously  in  the  public  pro¬ 
cessions  of  the  Derweeshes,  who  carry  about  with 
them  at  those  times  very  ancient  weapons.  These 
formidable  weapons  not  only  have  their  rounded 
heads  covered  with  long  sharp  spikes,  but  generally 
terminate  in  a  dagger-like  point  at  either  end.  Such 
were  the  “  three  darts,”  or  rather,  as  it  should  be 
translated,  the  “  three  maces  ”  ( shevciteem ,  the  plural 
of  shaivet),  which  Joab  seized,  as  the  first  weapons 


1  There  is  a  closer  resemblance  than  might  at  first  sight 

appear  between  this  word  shaivet  and  the  present  Arabic  name 
naboot,  for  the  consonants  are  alike,  save  the  substitution  of  n 
for  sh. 


268 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


that  came  to  hand,  and  savagely  thrust  “  through 
the  heart  of  Absalom.” 1  At  first  sight  it  seems 
inexplicable  to  the  Hebrew  scholar  how  battle 
clubs,  or  maces,  could  have  been  used  for  this  pur¬ 
pose,  but  the  construction  of  the  ancient  weapons 
still  to  be  seen  in  Palestine  makes  the  matter  plain. 
This  word  “  club  ”  is  one  of  the  famous  titles  of 
Christ.  In  Balaam’s  prophecy,  the  figure  of  a 
shcdvet,  or  sceptre-club,  is  applied  to  Messiah  Him¬ 
self.  With  reference  to  the  twofold  aspect  of  the 
Lord’s  Advent,  the  son  of  Beor  was  inspired  to 
declare — 

“  There  shall  come  a  star  out  of  Jacob, 

And  a  club  ( shaivet )  shall  rise  out  of  Israel, 

And  shall  smite  the  corners  of  Moab, 

And  destroy  all  the  children  of  tumult.” 2 

If  the  Lord  Christ  is  a  “star”  to  Jacob,  His  own 
people,  cheering  and  guiding  them  through  the  night 
of  affliction,  He  is  also  a  “  club  ”  for  chastisement 
and  judgment  upon  Moab,  their  enemies  and  His. 

The  metaphor  of  “  passing  under  the  club  ” 

1  2  Samuel  xviii.  14. 

2  Numbers  xxiv.  17.  Our  version  reads  “children  of  Sheth.” 
It  is  possible  “  Sheth  ”  may  be  a  proper  name,  in  which  case  it 
can  scarcely  mean  the  third  son  of  Adam,  but  would  have  some 
reference  to  a  well-known  Moabite  prince  or  place.  It  is  now  by 
some  of  the  best  critics  rendered  “war”  or  “tumult,”  and  in  this 
case  “  the  children  of  Sheth  ”  would  mean  the  “  tumultuous,  or 
warlike  ones,”  a  very  fitting  description  of  the  world-powers  in 
these  last  days. 


a  derweesh’s  iron  mack. 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF.  2J\ 

( shaivct )  occurs  in  the  Old  Testament.1  It  is  pro¬ 
bably,  as  Jewish  writers  assert,  a  process  of  taking 
the  tithe.  The  animals  were  all  brought  together 
and  placed  in  pens,  and  were  then  passed  one  by 
one  through  a  narrow  entrance,  where  the  shep¬ 
herd  stood  with  his  club  dipped  in  some  colour¬ 
ing  matter.  As  the  beasts  went  by  he  let  the 
rounded  head  of  the  club  fall  on  every  tenth, 
and  those  thus  branded  were  taken  for  the  tithe. 
It  is  in  reference  to  this  that  God  declares  of 
His  ancient  people  in  the  last  days,  “  I  will  bring 
you  out  from  the  peoples,  and  will  gather  you  out 
of  the  countries  wherein  ye  are  scattered,  with  a 
mighty  hand  and  with  a  stretched-out  arm,  and 
with  fury  poured  out.  And  I  will  bring  you  into 
the  wilderness  of  the  peoples,  and  there  will  I  con¬ 
tend  with  you  face  to  face.  .  .  .  And  I  will  cause 
you  to  pass  under  the  club ,  and  I  will  bring  you 
into  the  bond  of  the  covenant.  And  I  will  purge 
out  from  among  you  the  rebels  and  the  trans¬ 
gressors  against  me :  I  will  bring  them  forth  out 
of  the  country  where  they  sojourn ;  and  they  shall 
not  enter  into  the  land  of  Israel.”  2  Here  we  have 
the  gathering  together  of  Israel  out  of  the  countries 
where  they  are  now  scattered,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  purging  out  from  amongst  them  of  the  rebels, 

1  Leviticus  xxvii.  32  ;  Ezekiel  xx.  37. 

2  Ezekiel  xx.  34-37. 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


^  /  * 

both  strikingly  displayed  by  this  figure  of  gathering 
together  a  flock  to  take  out  of  it  a  tithe  for  slaughter. 
Thus  “  passing  under  the  club  ” — the  symbol,  as 
we  have  seen,  of  Divine  power — implies  the  two 
purposes  for  which  the  Jews  are  yet  to  be  restored 
to  Palestine  whilst  still  in  unbelief.  First,  for  the 
infliction  of  a  terrible  and  final  judgment.  Secondly, 
for  their  conversion  as  a  nation,  and  their  complete 
and  glorious  restoration  to  the  land  of  promise.1 

The  other  word  used  by  David,  mistieneth ,2  uni¬ 
formly  rendered  staff  in  every  passage  where  it 
occurs,  seems  to  mean  a  stick,  used  as  a  support 
or  stay,  a  long  staff,  such  as  is  used  to  this  day 
by  aged  men  to  support  their  steps,  or  by  a  shep¬ 
herd  in  tending  his  flock. 

Viewed  in  this  light,  the  twenty-third  Psalm 
clearly  explains  an  otherwise  obscure  passage  in 
the  prophet  Micali.  As  given  in  our  version 
it  is — 

“  Feed  tliy  people  with  thy  rod  ( shaivet ), 

The  flock  of  thine  heritage.”3 

The  word  “  feed  ”  here,  retail?  is  not  merely  to 
supply  with  food,  but  is  a  technical  expression, 
“  to  shepherd  ” — that  is,  to  do  all  that  is  implied 

1  See  Palestine  Repeopled,  seventh  edition,  pp.  38-50. 

2  3  Micah  vii.  14. 

4  n5n*  This  word  is  the  exact  equivalent  of  the  Greek  -rroL/j.aii'eLv, 
poimainein,  “to  tend  as  a  shepherd.” 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF. 


273 


in  the  office  and  care  of  a  shepherd.  The  prophet 
is  speaking  of  the  return  of  Israel  to  their  own 
land.  To  make  place  for  the  chosen  people,  the 
heathen  must  he  driven  out.  Regarding  his  nation 
as  a  defenceless  flock,  thrust  away  from  their  right¬ 
ful  pastures,  Micali  calls  upon  “  the  Good  Shepherd  ” 
to  use  on  their  behalf  the  mace,  or  “  club  of  iron,” 
sliaivet  barzel ,  with  which  King  Messiah  is  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  second  Psalm  as  scattering  the 
heathen.  The  lines  should  be  rendered — • 

“  Shepherd  thy  people  with  thy  club, 

The  flock  of  thine  heritage.” 

The  answer  of  the  Lord  in  the  next  three  verses 
plainly  implies  the  nature  of  that  pastoral  care  for 
which  the  prophet  cries — • 

“  The  nations  shall  see, 

And  shall  be  ashamed  of  all  their  might. 

•  •  •  • 

They  shall  lick  dust  like  a  serpent, 

They  shall  come  trembling  out  of  their  holes 
Like  worms  of  the  earth  : 

They  shall  be  afraid  of  Jehovah  our  God, 

And  shall  fear  because  of  thee.” 1 


1  Micah  vii.  16,  17.  Compare  with  this  Zechariah  xi.  4-7,  which 
requires  a  similar  explanation,  speaking  also,  as  it  does,  of  the 
interposition  of  God  on  behalf  of  His  ancient  people  Israel,  who, 
like  a  helpless  flock,  are  at  the  mercy  of  foreign  oppressors,  and 
deserted  by  their  own  unfaithful  shepherds.  “Thus  saith  Jehovah 
my  God  :  shepherd  the  flock  of  slaughter  ;  whose  buyers  slay  them 
and  hold  themselves  not  guilty,  .  .  .  and  their  own  shepherds  spare 


2;4 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


This  figure  of  the  shepherd’s  club  is  most  im¬ 
portant  in  its  bearing  upon  the  representation  of 
Messiah’s  vengeance  on  His  impenitent  enemies 
given  in  the  second  Psalm.  In  our  version  it 
is — 

“  Thou  shall  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron.”  1 

The  Septuagint,  Syriac,  and  Yulgate  versions 
translate  it — • 

“  Thou  slialt  shepherd  them  with  a  club  of  iron.”2 

This  mitdit  le'ave  the  matter  doubtful,  if  we  did 
not  possess  an  inspired  authority.  Once,  however, 
in  the  Revelation,  the  passage  is  applied  to  Christ, 
and  twice  to  His  people,  and  in  each  instance  the 

them  not.  Tor  I  will  no  more  spare  the  inhabitants  of  the  land, 
saith  Jehovah.  But  lo,  I  will  deliver  the  men,  every  one  into  his 
neighbour’s  hand.  .  .  .  And  I  shepherded  the  flock  of  slaughter, 
even  you  the  poor  of  the  flock  ”  (Zechariah  xi.  4-7).  Here,  as  in 
Micah  vii.  16,  17,  we  may  gather  from  the^' whole  context  that 
the  shepherding  evidently  applies  not  to  “  feeding,”  but  to  fighting 
for,  and  protecting  the  flock,  which  is  represented  as  in  danger  of 
slaughter. 

1  Psalm  ii.  9.  The  expression  here  “rod  of  iron”  is  'PH? 
shaivel  barzel. 

2  That  is,  instead  of  DlpPl,  teerdaim ,  from  rda\  “to break,” 
they  read  Dy^r},  teed  aim,  from  nyj?  raah,  “to  shepherd.”  It  is 
only  a  question  of  the  vowel  points.  The  consonants  OSnip  tr’m, 
which  in  the  earliest  MSS.  we  know  stood  alone,  may  be  read 
either  way.  It  is  a  striking  instance  of  those  errors  which  have 
crept  in  with  the  points.  Remove  these  here,  and  a  grave  difficulty 
entirely  disappears,  for  the  New  Testament  and  the  Septuagint  then 
contain  a  perfectly  truthful  and  literal  rendering  of  the  Hebrew. 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF.  275 

inspired  Greek  quotation  lias  the  technical  ex¬ 
pression  “  to  shepherd,”  rendered  in  our  version  “  to 
rule.”1  With  this  Divine  quotation,  surely  there 
cannot  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  right  reading,  and 
the  figure  at  once  becomes  consistent  and  powerful. 

“  Thou  shalt  shepherd  them  with  a  club  of  iron,,, 

that  is,  treat  them  as  a  shepherd  deals  with  those 
who  rob  or  injure  his  sheep. 

One  important  part  of  the  office  of  the  under- 
sheplierd,  the  minister  of  Christ,  is  here  illustrated. 
He,  like  his  Master,  is  not  only  to  feed  and  nourish 
the  souls  committed  to  his  care,  but  also  to  be  pre¬ 
pared  to  guard  them  from  their  foes  at  the  cost,  if 
needs  be,  of  suffering  and  loss.  The  Apostle  Paul, 
that  pattern  minister,  was  thus  constantly  laying 
down  his  life  for  others.  To  “  false  brethren,”  he 
tells  the  Galatians,  he  “  did  not  yield  submission, 
even  for  an  hour;  that  the  truth  of  the  gospel 
might  continue  with  you.” 2  Painful  as  it  must 
have  been,  when  he  thought  the  Apostle  Peter’s 
conduct  likely  to  injure  others,  he  “withstood  him 
to  the  face,  because  he  was  evidently  to  blame  ”  for 

1  Revelation  ii.  27;  xii.  5;  xix.  15.  This  application  to  the 
believer  of  Messianic  passages  which  apply  in  the  first  instance  to 
Christ,  occurring  as  it  does  in  a  number  of  other  instances,  sets 
forth  very  beautifully  the  intimate  union  which  exists  between  the 
saint  and  his  Saviour. 

3  Galatians  ii.  1-5. 


276 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


his  act  of  dissimulation,  in  withdrawing  himself 
from  the  Gentiles  through  fear  of  certain  Jews  who 
had  come  from  Jerusalem.1  This  consideration,  too, 
adds  much  to  the  deep  meaning  of  Jesus’  tender 
restoration  of  His  penitent  disciple,  which  is  literally, 
“  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  me  ?  .  .  . 
shepherd  my  sheep.” 2  The  significance  of  these 
pathetic  words  is  heightened  by  the  fact  that  the 
Lord  at  once  proceeded  to  prophesy  that  Peter,  who 
fell  through  fear,  would  indeed  be  dauntless  and 
faithful  in  the  pastoral  office,  and  glorify  God  by 
the  cruel  death  of  crucifixion,  rather  than  betray  his 
charge.3 

The  same  idea  seems  to  have  been  in  the  mind 
of  Paul  when  addressing  for  the  last  time  the  elders 
of  the  Ephesian  Church.  “  Take  heed  unto  your¬ 
selves,”  is  his  warning  cry,  “  and  to  all  the  flock,  in 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  hath  made  you  overseers,  to 
shepherd  the  Church  of  God,  which  he  purchased 
with  his  own  blood.  I  know  that  after  my  depart¬ 
ing  grievous  wolves  will  enter  in  among  you,  not 
sparing  the  flock ;  and  from  among  your  own  selves 
will  men  arise,  speaking  perverse  things,  to  draw 


1  Galatians  ii.  II-14. 

2  John  xxi.  16.  The  words  in  verses  15,  17,  are  respectively, 
“  feed  my  lambs,”  “  feed  my  sheep,”  a  technical  term  for  supplying 
with  food  being  used  in  these  passages. 

3  John  xxi.  18,  19. 


2  77 


THE  SHEPHERD’S  CLUB  AND  STAFF. 

away  the  disciples  after  them.”1  Here  the  “shep¬ 
herding  ”  mainly  refers  to  defending  the  flock  cou¬ 
rageously  against  their  spiritual  foes.  Hence  the 
allusion  to  the  blood  of  God  having  been  shed  in 
their  behalf,  and  to  the  coming  in  of  false  teachers, 
terrible  as  wolves,  though  outwardly  clad  in  sheep’s 
clothing,  who  are  to  be  faithfully  resisted. 

We  are  specially  warned  that  in  the  last  days 
“  evil  men  and  impostors  will  wax  worse  and 
worse,  deceiving  and  being  deceived.”  2  No  wonder 
that  it  is  said  of  such  a  time,  “  All  that  desire  to  live 
godly  in  Christ  Jesus  will  suffer  persecution.” 3  We 
need  pastors  now  of  David’s  spirit.  “  Thy  servant,” 
he  tells  us,  “  kept  his  father’s  sheep  ;  and  there  came 
a  lion  and  a  bear,  and  took  a  lamb  out  of  the  flock ; 
and  I  went  out  after  him,  and  smote  him,  and  deli¬ 
vered  it  out  of  his  mouth  ;  and  he  arose  against  me, 
but  I  caught  his  beard,  and  smote  him  and  slew 
him.”  4  Such  “  shepherding  ”  the  flock  of  God 
requires  in  our  day!  We  want  men  “valiant  for 
the  truth,”  who  are  not  afraid  or  ashamed  of  being 
true  Protestants,  however  unfashionable,  ignorant, 
or  uncharitable  the  spirit  of  the  age  may  deem 
them.  We  want  ministers  who,  though  it  in¬ 
volve  ignominy  and  loss,  will  “  contend  earnestly 

1  Acts  xx.  28-30.  2  2  Timothy  iii.  13.  3  2  Timothy  iii.  12. 

4  1  Samuel  xvii.  34,  35.  Probably  David’s  shepherd’s  club 
played  an  important  part  in  smiting  these  wild  beasts. 


278  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.”  We 
want  bishops  and  presbyters  who  are  not  ashamed  or 
unmindful  of  their  consecration  and  ordination  vows; 
that,  the  Lord  being  their  helper,  they  are  “  ready, 
with  all  faithful  diligence,  to  banish  and  drive  away 
all  erroneous  and  strange  doctrines  contrary  to  God's 
Word  ;  and  both  privately  and  openly  to  call  upon, and 
encourage  others  to  the  same.”  In  these  last  days, 
error  is  abroad  in  countless  subtle  and  dangerous 
forms,  and  Satan,  in  the  disguise  of  an  angel  of 
light,  is  spreading  new  traps  for  the  unwary — 
snares  sacerdotal,  infidel,  and  materialistic.  The 
enemies  of  truth  are  swiftly  gathering,  and  appa¬ 
rently  preparing,  as  they  have  never  done  before, 
to  unite  their  forces  for  the  final  struggle.  At  such 
a  time  it  surely  behoves  the  faithful  pastor  to  culti¬ 
vate  a  suffering,  self-denying,  unworldly  spirit,  and 
do  battle  courageously  on  behalf  of  the  flock  over 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  him  overseer. 


I 


(  2  79  ) 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MOUNT  ZION. 

“  They  that  trust  in  Jehovah  are  as  Mount  Zion, 

Which  shall  not  be  moved  :  it  abideth  for  ever. 

The  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem  ; 

And  Jehovah  is  round  about  His  people, 

Henceforth,  even  for  evermore.” 

— Psalm  cxxv.  i,  2. 

COMPAPJSONS,  or  similes,  are  sometimes  used,  not 
only  to  place  a  subject  in  a  clearer  light,  which 
may  be  done  by  commonplace  illustrations,  but  also 
to  amplify  and  ennoble  it.  In  this  case  sublime 
and  splendid  imagery  must  be  summoned  to  serve. 
Perhaps  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  this  kind  of 
lofty  comparison  is  to  be  found  in  the  illustra¬ 
tion  of  the  privileges  of  believers,  drawn  from  the 
immutable  strength  and  danger-defying  situation  of 
Mount  Zion.  It  occurs  in  one  of  the  Songs  of 
Degrees.  It  is  most  probable  that  these  “  Songs  of 
Ascendings,”  or  “  goings  up,”  w~ere  sung  in  chorus  by 
the  Hebrew  caravans  to  cheer  their  yearly  journeys 
to  the  City  of  the  Great  King.  May  we  not  well 


28o 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


suppose  that  the  eager  pilgrim  band  burst  into 
the  1 2 1st  Psalm,  the  second  of  these  songs,  as 
they  first  caught  sight  of  the  heights  of  Jerusalem, 
singing — 

“  I  will  lift  lip  mine  eyes  unto  the  mountains  ; 

From  whence  shall  my  help  come  ”  ? 1 

Then  it  would  seem  that,  halting  near  the  gates  to 
form  the  procession  to  the  sanctuary,  they  pealed 
forth  the  hymn — 

“  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me, 

Let  us  go  to  the  house  of  Jehovah. 

Our  feet  shall  stand 

Within  thy  gates,  0  Jerusalem  !  ”  2 

And  at  length  arrived,  as  it  would  appear,  within 
the  Temple  area,  and  looking  forth  on  the  sacred, 
never-to-be-forgotten  scene,  full  of  holy  joy,  they 
celebrated  their  mercies  and  privileges  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  words : — 

“  They  that  trust  in  Jehovah  are  as  Mount  Zion, 

Which  shall  not  be  moved  :  it  abideth  for  ever. 

The  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem  ; 

And  Jehovah  is  round  about  His  people, 

Henceforth,  even  for  evermore.”  3 

Many  who  repeat  these  soul-stirring  Hebrew 
verses  form  but  a  faint  conception  of  their  full 
force.  But  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 

1  Psalm  cxxi.  I.  2  Psalm  cxxii.  I,  2. 

3  Psalm  cxxv.  i,  2. 


MOUNT  ZION. 


28l 

natural  features  of  the  district  they  possess  peculiar 
power  and  beauty.  Mount  Zion  sometimes  stands 
for  the  one  hill  on  the  south-western  quarter  of 
Jerusalem,  now  partly  within  and  partly  without 
the  walls,  which  in  ancient  times,  however,  entirely 
encircled  its  summit ;  and  sometimes  for  the  whole 
site  of  the  city,  consisting  of  the  seven  hills  on 
which  it  was  situated,  namely,  Mount  Zion,  Mount 
Acra,  Mount  Ophel,  Mount  Moriah,  Mount  Gareb, 
and  Mount  Goath.1  In  this  latter  sense,  Mount  Zion, 
as  the  largest,  most  anciently  inhabited,  and  most 
important  part  of  Jerusalem,  stands,  by  a  figure  of 
speech,  for  the  whole  of  the  triple-walled  metro¬ 
polis  of  Palestine.  Whether  we  confine  it  to  the 
single  mountain  in  question,  or  regard  it  as  spoken 
of  all  the  seven  hills  enclosed  by  the  three  walls 
of  the  ancient  city.  Mount  Zion  would  convey 
to  the  mind  of  an  Israelite  a  very  grand  represen¬ 
tation.  The  mountains  of  Judah  in  this  central 
part  of  the  chain,  where  they  rise  to  the  height 
of  over  2500  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
are  composed  on  the  surface,  and  to  a  great 
depth  below,  of  tertiary  limestone  of  four  different 
kinds.  There  is  a  nummulitic  limestone  which 
has  bands  of  flint  and  fossils,  called  in  Arabic 
Kacooley  ;  a  beautifully  white  limestone  which  goes 

1  In  proof  of  this  statement  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  seventh 
edition  of  the  author’s  Palestine  Repeopled,  Appendix  D. 


282 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


by  the  name  of  Mcilakey ,  much  used  for  ornamental 
stone  work;  an  exceedingly  hard  silicious  chalk, 
also  with  bands  of  flints  called  Mizzey  ;  and  lastly, 
a  pink  and  white  strata  of  indurated  chalk,  also 
exceedingly  hard,  and  taking  a  fine  polish,  known 
as  the  “  Santa  Croce  ”  marble.  The  Kacooley  and 
Malakey  rocks  are  comparatively  soft  when  first 
quarried  at  any  depth  below  the  ground,  but  the 
Malakey ,  wherever  it  rises  to  the  surface  or  is 
exposed  to  the  air,  gradually  and  constantly  hardens, 
which  renders  it  a  very  valuable  stone  for  building 
purposes,  as  I  know  from  actual  experience  of  its 
use.  The  Malakey ,  however,  in  the  hills  which 
form  the  site  of  the  Holy  City,  generally  under¬ 
lies  the  marble  -  like  Mizzey,  or  silicious  indurated 
chalk,  which  exceedingly  hard  stone  forms  most  of 
the  surface  rock.  In  consequence  of  this  feature, 
where  the  Malakey  crops  up  near  the  ground,  large 
tombs  and  beers,  or  underground  cisterns,  have  been 
excavated  in  that  softer  stratum  of  rock,  while  the 
Mizzey  has  been  left  to  form  the  natural  roof.  The 
huge  rock-cut  cisterns  in  the  present  Haram  area, 
the  site  of  the  courts  of  the  Temple,  some  of 
which  are  forty  feet  deep,  afford  a  striking  example 
of  such  excavations.  The  Malakey  stratum  has  a 
depth  of  forty  feet,  and  the  Mizzey  of  seventy-one 
feet,  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  city. 
Owing  to  the  great  depth  to  which  the  hard  Mizzey 


MOUNT  ZION. 


233 


rock  descends,  all  attempts  to  sink  tlie  shaft  of  an 
artesian  well  near  Jerusalem  have  hitherto  been 
abandoned.  I  have  said  the  Mizzey  stone  prevails 
upon  the  surface  both  in  and  around  the  city.  The 
best  evidence  of  this  is  offered  by  the  fact,  that  in 
almost  every  instance  when  a  man  purchases  a 
small  plot  of  land,  he  finds  enough  of  this  stone  to 
build,  not  only  a  house  and  enclosure  vTall  founded 
upon  their  own  native  rock,  but  also  the  accom¬ 
panying  leer.  I  have  had  occasion  to  excavate  much 
of  the  Mizzey  upon  my  own  grounds  on  Mount 
Gareb,  and  have  good  reason  to  know  how  exceed¬ 
ingly  hard,  difficult  of  clearage,  and  durable  it  is. 
TIence  it  was  perfectly  natural  that  Mount  Zion 
should  have  been  pre-eminently  regarded  from  the 
earliest  times  as  “  the  level  or  tableland  rock,”  1  the 
natural,  immovable,  stone  stronghold  of  Canaan’s 
“  everlasting  hills.” 

In  a  glance  at  the  spot  given  us  in  the  days  of 

1  Jeremiah  xxi.  13,  *Vl¥,  tzoor  pameeshoar ,  ‘  ‘  rock  of  the 

meeshoar ,  ”  a  Hebrew  idiom  for  “the  meeshoar  rock.”  This  word 
meeshoar  means  “level  down,”  or  “tableland.”  It  is  applied 
specially  as  a  technical  and  local  name  to  the  smooth  upland  downs 
of  Moab  (Deuteronomy  iii.  10  ;  Joshua  xiii.  17,  xx.  8;  Jeremiah 
xlviii.  8,  21).  Hence,  from  the  idea  of  a  smooth,  plain,  lofty  place, 
meeshoar  came  to  have  the  secondary  metaphorical  sense  of  “  equity,” 
or  “justice”  (Psalm  xlv.  6,  lxvii.  4;  Isaiah  xi.  4;  Malachi  ii.  6). 
No  doubt,  in  allusion  to  this  meaning  of  the  word,  as  well  as  to  its 
being  a  level  surface  on  the  summit  of  hills,  Jerusalem  was  proudly 
called  by  its  inhabitants  “  the  meeshoar  rock.” 


I 


284 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


David,  we  learn  that  it  was  regarded  from  time 
immemorial  as  a  place  of  such  strength,  owing  to 
its  steep,  precipitous,  rocky  sides,  as  to  be  held 
impregnable, — the  Gibraltar  of  Palestine  fortresses. 
Josephus  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  magnificent 
natural  position  of  the  walls,  towers,  and  fortifications 
of  the  city  of  Herod  at  this  point.  His  descriptions, 
which  it  has  been  so  much  the  fashion  in  modern 
times  to  decry  as  enthusiastic  and  exaggerated,  have 
throughout  the  work  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Eund  been  for  the  most  part  minutely  confirmed.1 
This  Jewish  writer,  who  was  engaged  in  a  leading 
capacity  in  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  under  Titus,  tells 
us  that  the  first  of  the  three  enclosure  walls  ran 
round  the  summit  of  Mount  Zion,  that  it  was 
defended  by  sixty  towers ;  and  speaking  of  the 
three  named  Hippicus,  Phasselus,  and  Mariamne,  he 
describes  them  as  the  wonder  of  all  beholders  on 
account  of  their  great  height,  massive  structure,  and 
commanding  position.  Titus,  who  destroyed  all  else, 
left  these  as  trophies  of  his  splendid  victory,  to 
show  the  exceeding  vastness  and  strength  of  the 
fortifications  which  had  been  reduced  by  the  might 

1  The  principal  exception  to  this  rule  occurs  in  the  case  of  his 
description  of  the  town  of  Caesarea.  If  the  ruins  now  supposed  to 
represent  this  once  important  place  are  on  the  true  site — and  it 
appears  to  me  that  this  has  been  by  no  means  indisputably  proved 
— they  appear  to  contradict  the  magnificence  which  Josephus 
recounts. 


MOUNT  ZION. 


285 


of  Rome.  Josephus  speaks  of  them  as  “for  large¬ 
ness,  beauty,  and  strength,  beyond  all  that  were  in 
the  habitable  earth.”  1  “  The  largeness  also  of  the 

O 

stones,”  he  says,  “was  wonderful,  for  they  were  not 
made  of  common  small  stones,  nor  of  such  large 
ones  only  as  men  could  carry,  but  they  were  of 
white  marble  cut  out  of  the  rock  (probably  Malakey) ; 
each  stone  was  twenty  cubits  in  length  (at  least 
about  twenty-seven  feet),  and  ten  in  breadth,  and 
five  in  depth.  They  were  so  exactly  united  to  one 
another,  that  each  tower  looked  like  one  entire 
rock  of  stone,  so  growing  naturally,  and  afterwards 
cut  by  the  hands  of  the  artificers  into  present  shape 
and  corners;  so  little,  or  not  at  all,  did  their  joints 
or  connection  appear.”  2  Quite  recently,  in  the  win¬ 
ter  of  1874,  Mr.  Henry  Maudslay,  an  English  civil 
engineer,  while  making  improvements  in  the  school 
of  the  Anglican  Bishop  at  Jerusalem  on  the  south¬ 
west  brow  of  Mount  Zion,  where  it  overlooks  the 
pool  now  called  the  Birket  es  Sultan ,  was  so  fortu¬ 
nate  as  to  fully  explore  and  lay  bare  the  ancient 
lie  of  the  rock.  Nothing  could  be  grander  than  the 
huge  natural  fastness,  which  he  was  able  to  follow 
and  display.  The  limestone  crag  proved  to  have 
been  scarped,  that  is,  cut  smooth  and  straight  as 
a  wall,  with  infinite  labour  perpendicularly  to 

1  Josephus’  Wars  of  the  Jews ,  book  v.  chap.  iv.  sec.  3. 

2  Josephus’  Wars  of  the  Jews ,  book  v.  chap.  iv.  sec.  4. 


286 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


the  average  height  of  thirty  feet  throughout  the 
hundred  and  thirty  yards  explored  on  this  occasion. 
The  foundation  of  a  mighty  tower,  a  projecting 
scarp  forty-five  feet  square,  was  discovered  under 
the  school-house,  standing  itself  on  a  broad  ledge 
of  rock,  below  which  another  deep  scarp  appeared 
to  exist.  In  one  place  thirty-six  steps  were  laid 
bare,  cut  in  the  face  of  the  scarp  ascending  the  base 
of  a  second  smaller  tower.  The  bases  of  three 
towers  in  all  were  examined,  and  a  system  of  no 
less  than  eighteen  beers,  or  cisterns,  cut  in  the  rock, 
which  supplied  them  with  wTater.  It  is  exceedingly 
interesting  to  observe  that  both  these  “  cisterns  to 
receive  rain-water,”  and  these  “  steps,”  are  specially 
noted  in  connection  with  all  the  towers  described 
by  Josephus  as  standing  upon  the  three  walls.1  In 
one  place  a  ditch,  some  twenty^  feet  wide,  was 
found,  with  a  rough  rock  slope  below.  On  the 
western  side  were  found  at  the  foot  of  the  scarp 
a  number  of  fallen  stones  from  three  to  four  feet 
long,  “  many  of  which,”  says  Lieutenant  Conder, 
“  seem  to  me  to  be  Eoman  work,  with  a  draft  of 
three  inches  broad.”  He  adds  : 2  “  The  stones  were 
found  principally  face  downwards,  as  though  fallen 

1  J osephus’  Wars  of  the  Jews,  book  v.  chap.  iv.  sec.  3. 

2  See  paper  by  Lieutenant  Conder,  L.E.,  in  January  Quarterly 
Statement  of  Palestine  Exploration  Fund ,  p.  7,  and  April  Quarterly 
Statement,  p.  18.  This  deeply  interesting  discovery  has  not  yet 
received  the  attention  it  deserves. 


MOUNT  ZION. 


287 


from  the  tower  above,  or  pushed  over  from  within.” 
Here,  then,  in  this  modern  glimpse  at  the  famed 
fortress  of  Jehus,  we  see  rock-cut  faces  rising  per¬ 
pendicularly  in  one  place  to  the  height  of  perhaps 
more  than  fifty  feet.  Well  might  David,  rejoicing 
in  the  security  of  God’s  people,  allude  in  enthusiastic 
language  to  these  remarkable  features  as  fitting 
symbols  of  the  Divine  protection,  and  to  the  awe 
with  which  they  struck  the  minds  of  those  monarchs 
who  came  to  besiege  the  city  wdien  they  first  beheld 
them — 

“  Beautiful  for  elevation,  the  joy  of  the  whole 
earth, 

Is  Mount  Zion,  on  the  sides  of  the  north  ; 

The  city  of  the  great  king. 

•  •  •  •  • 

For  lo,  the  kings  were  assembled, 

They  marched  on  together. 

They  beheld,  and  so  they  marvelled, 

They  were  troubled,  they  hasted  away  ; 

Trembling  took  hold  upon  them  there, 

Pain,  as  of  a  woman  in  travail. 

•  •  •  •  • 

Walk  about  Zion,  and  go  round  about  her, 

Count  her  towers  ; 

Mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks. 

•  •  •  •  • 

For  this  God  is  our  God  for  ever  and  ever, 

He  will  himself  be  our  guide  until  [or,  over] 
death.” 1 


1  Psalm  xlviii.  2,  4-6,  12-14.  The  word  I  have  translated 
“  elevation,  ”  noapli,  only  occurs  in  this  place.  It  is  evidently 


288 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


Undoubtedly  the  rock  face  I  have  described  must 
have  formed  part  of  the  adamantine  foundations 
upon  which  afterwards  rose  the  first  or  old  wall. 
Once  huge  ramparts  crowned  this  scarp,  and  on  the 
square  projecting  bases  Herod  built  massive  towers 
of  immense  strength.  No  stone  of  these  can  now 
be  pointed  out.  Lieutenant  Conder,  reviewing  Mr. 
Maudslay’s  important  exploration,  says  it  is  especially 
“  valuable  as  showing  that,  however  the  masonry 
may  have  been  destroyed  and  lost,  we  may  yet 
hope  to  find  indications  of  the  ancient  enceinte  in 
the  rock  scarps  which  are  imperishable.”  This  is 
very  true ;  for,  while  man  can  destroy  what  man 
has  made,  the  everlasting  hills  smile  at  his  rage. 
Yet  who  can  hear  of  it  without  perceiving  the  force 
and  sublimity  of  that  glorious  description  of  the 
immobility  of  believers — 

“  They  that  trust  in  Jehovah  are  as  Mount  Zion, 

Which  shall  not  be  moved,  it  abideth  for  ever.” 


derived  from  nooph,  which  has  the  sense  of  “  to  lift  up,”  and 
hence,  in  a  technical  sense,  “to  wave,”  “to  lift  up  and  wave  to 
and  fro,”  a  wave-offering,  which  is  its  meaning  in  twenty  places. 
Five  times  it  has  the  sense  of  “  lifting  up  and  striking  with,”  as  of 
a  sickle  or  a  tool  (Exodus  xx.  25  ;  Deuteronomy  xxiii.  25,  xxvii.  5  ; 
Joshua  viii.  31  ;  Isaiah  x.  15),  and  seven  times  of  “lifting  up  and 
shaking  the  hand  in  a  threatening  manner”  (Isaiah  x.  32,  xi.  15, 
xiii.  2,  xix.  16;  Zechariah  ii.  9;  Job  xxxi.  21).  The  word  here, 
therefore,  is  a  very  suggestive  one,  and  seems  to  convey  the  idea, 
not  only  of  an  elevated  place,  lifted  up  on  high,  and  offered  as  it 
were  to  God,  but  of  one  that  defies  its  foes. 


SKETCH  MAP  OF  JERUSALEM  AND  ITS  ENVIRONS. 

1.  The  Protestant  Cemetery,  the  black  line  to  the  north-east  of  it  showing 

the  position  of  the  scarped  foundation  of  the  wall  of  Zion. 

2.  Birket  es  Sultan,  or  Sultan’s  Pool. 

3.  The  traditional  Aceldama. 

4.  Birlcet  Mamilla. 

5.  The  School  of  the  late  Anglican  Bishop. 


T 


MOUNT  ZION. 


29  I 

Not  less  impressive  is  the  comparison  used  to 
set  forth  their  eternal  security  as  safe-guarded  by 
Jehovah  Himself — 

“  The  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem  ; 

And  Jehovah  is  roundabout  his  people, 

Henceforth,  even  for  evermore.” 

The  Holy  City,  on  its  seven  closely-clustered  but 
well-defined  hills,  is  surrounded  by  deep  narrow 
valleys,  which  make  the  ascent  to  the  gates  toil¬ 
some  on  every  side  but  the  north-west.  Though 
the  slopes  ascending  to  the  city  on  all  sides  are 
still  steep,  recent  explorations  have  shown  that 
in  former  times  they  were  far  more  precipitous. 
The  (Ubris  of  the  twenty-seven-times-sacked  city 
lies  upon  them  in  one  spot  to  the  depth  of  125 
feet.1  There  now  exists  in  England  a  deeply- 
interesting  model  of  Jerusalem  and  its  environs, 
exhibited  by  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  in  the 
Science  and  Art  Department  of  the  South  Kensing¬ 
ton  Museum.  This  model  gives  us  the  true  ancient 
lie  of  the  ground  in  and  around  the  city,  being  an 
embossed  copy  of  the  rock  contours,  made  accu¬ 
rately  to  scale,  the  result  of  years  of  scientific 
survey  and  exploration,  embodying  the  careful  work 
of  Col.  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  E.E.,  Col.  Warren, 

1  See  The  Recovery  of  Jerusalem,  p.  187.  A  brief  account  of  its 
twenty-seven  sieges  is  given  in  Our  Work  on  Palestine  (Messrs, 
llentley  &  Sons),  pp.  48-66. 


292 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


E.E.,  Lieut.  Conder,  E.E.,  Mr.  Schick  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  and  others.  Here  we  look  upon  the  true 
site  of  the  city  of  David  and  Solomon,  as  it  must 
have  existed  before  its  deep  ravines  and  abrupt 
slopes  were  to  a  great  extent  buried  and  oblite¬ 
rated,  as  they  are  now,  under  vast  heaps  of  rub¬ 
bish.  Ho  engineer  can  glance  at  this  model  and 
doubt  for  a  moment  where  the  third  or  outer  wall 
of  the  city  must  have  stood,  namely,  on  the  brow 
of  the  natural  ridge  that  runs,  with  a  more  or  less 
steep  descent,  all  round  the  city,  except  for  some 
six  hundred  yards  on  the  north-west.  How  let  any 
one  follow  with  a  measure  this  brow  of  the  ridge, 
and  he  will  find  that  it  gives  a  circumference  of  four 
miles,  just  the  thirty-three  stadia  that  Josephus 
assigns  to  the  outside  limits  of  the  city  ! 1  It  is 
strange  that  any  doubt  should  ever  have  existed 
on  this  point,  and  yet  in  very  few  plans  of  the 
city  is  this  line  suggested. 

If  we  bear  in  mind  the  position  thus  assigned,  it 
adds  much  force  to  the  figure  under  consideration. 
Jerusalem  in  ancient  times  was  not  only  “  beautiful 
for  elevation,”  but  also  secure  and  strong,  beyond 
most  cities,  on  the  same  account.  With  its  massive 
and  lofty  walls,  resting  for  the  greater  part  of  four 
miles  on  the  brow  of  rocky  precipitous  hills,  it  was 

1  “The  whole  compass  of  the  city  was  thirty-three  furlongs.” — 
Josephus,  Wars  of  the  Jews ,  book  v.  chapter  iv.  section  3. 


MOUNT  ZION. 


293 


entirely  surrounded,  except  for  a  few  hundred  yards, 
by  the  nahhal ,  or  torrent  valley,  of  Kidron,  on  the 
north  and  east,  and  the  gay ,  or  ravine-like  glen,  of  the 
son  of  Hinnom,  or  Gehenna,  on  the  west  and  south. 
Beyond  these  rise  the  mountain  of  Scopus  on  the  north, 
from  which  may  be  had  the  finest  view  of  the  city, 
and  the  Mount  of  Olivet  on  the  east,  which  is  a  con¬ 
tinuation  of  Scopus,  where  it  turns  abruptly  to  the 
south.  Olivet,  after  running  for  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile,  slightly  dips,  and  rises  again  in  a  separate 
hill  called  the  Mount  of  Offence,  where  the  village 
of  Siloam,  now  Silwan,  still  clings  to  its  steep  sides, 
and  where  once  upon  its  summit,  towering  high  above 
the  sanctuary  of  Jehovah,  the  idol  temple  of  Solomon’s 
heathen  wives  commanded  the  Holy  City.  The  narrow 
vale  of  Gehenna  along  the  west  and  south,  one  of  the 
most  verdant  and  picturesque  in  all  the  neighbour¬ 
hood,  is  shut  in  by  the  present  so-called  Hill  of  Evil 
Counsel,  a  terraced  ridge  with  bold  limestone  cliffs, 
honeycombed  by  excavated  sepulchres,  which  in  some 
parts  rises  to  a  considerable  elevation.  The  mountains 
most  emphatically  stand  “  round  about  Jerusalem,” 
and  in  doing  so  must  have  greatly  safeguarded  it  in 
ancient  times.  We  are  specially  told  that  when 
Titus  besieged  the  city,  he  found  it  impossible  to 
invest  it  completely  until  he  had  built  a  wall  round 
the  entire  sides  of  these  mountains,  nearly  five  miles 
long,  with  thirteen  places  at  intervals  in  which  he 


294 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


stationed  garrisons,  which  added  another  mile  and  a 
quarter  to  these  vast  earthworks.  “  The  whole  was 
completed,”  says  the  Jewish  historian,  “in  three 
days ;  so  that  what  would  naturally  have  required 
some  months  was  done  in  so  short  an  interval  as  is 
incredible.”1  Assaults  upon  the  city,  even  then, could 
only  he  delivered  effectively  upon  its  level  corner 
to  the  north-west,  whence  every  hostile  advance 
was  necessarily  directed  in  all  its  various  sieges. 
To  those  familiar  with  these  facts,  beautifully  bold, 
graphic,  and  forceful  is  the  Psalmist’s  figure  of  the 
security  of  the  Lord’s  people — 

C£  The  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusalem  ; 

And  Jehovah  is  round  about  his  people, 

Henceforth,  even  for  evermore.”2 


1  Josephus,  Wars  of  the  Jews,  book  v.  chap.  xii.  section  2. 

2  To  some,  accustomed  to  our  use  of  the  word  “mountains,”  it 
has  seemed  that  hills  like  Scopus,  Olivet,  the  Mount  of  Offence, 
&c.,  closely  clustering  round  the  Holy  City,  are  not  lofty  or  large 
enough  to  be  dignified  with  such  a  title,  and  these  have  been  led  to 
look  for  “the  mountains  round  about  Jerusalem”  in  the  peak  of 
Neby  Samwil,  some  three  and  a  half  miles  away,  in  the  grand  natural 
wall  of  Moab,  rising  up  to  a  height  of  over  4000  feet  from  the 
Jordan  valley,  at  a  distance  of  25  miles,  and  some  other  far-off  but 
conspicuous  elevations.  We  must,  however,  remember  that  the 
term  "in,  liar ,  “mountain,”  is  given  in  Scripture  to  any  compara¬ 
tively  large  ridge,  or  collection  of  small  hills,  and  to  many  such  a 
hogs-back  as  Scopus  or  Olivet.  The  hill  over  Jericho,  the  modern 
Ain  es  Sultan,  is  called  a  liar,  or  “mountain”  (Joshua  ii.  16).  Ebal 
and  G-erizim  are  each  called  a  liar  (Deuteronomy  xi.  29)  ;  Zion, 
which  is  overlooked  by  most  of  the  hills  which  I  have  described  as 
standing  round  it,  is  repeatedly  spoken  of  as  a  liar  (2  Kings  xix.  31  ; 


MOUNT  ZION. 


295 


These  words  must  have  sounded  in  Hebrew  ears  as 
sublime  as  they  were  comforting,  and,  when  sung  on 
the  heights  of  Zion,  inspiring  in  the  last  degree. 

Jerusalem  may  indeed  fitly  stand  as  an  image 
of  the  believing  and  ever-tried  people  of  God.  Its 
history,  like  that  of  the  Church  militant,  has  been 
one  of  continual  warfare.  It  has  been  well  re¬ 
marked  by  Mr.  Grove,  in  summing  up  the  annals  of 
the  city,  that  while  our  first  glimpse  of  it  in  the 
Old  Testament  tells  how  the  children  of  Judah 
“  smote  it  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  set 
the  city  on  fire,”  so  “  almost  the  latest  mention  of  it 
in  the  Hew  Testament  is  contained  in  the  solemn 
warnings  in  which  Christ  foretold  how  Jerusalem 
should  be  compassed  with  armies.  ”  1  Twenty-seven 
times  the  waves  of  wild  Eastern  war  have  beaten 
upon  its  embattled  walls.  It  has  a  story  of  trial 
and  suffering  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of 

Psalm  ii.  6,  &c.)  ;  and  Olivet  itself  is  in  one  place  actually  called 
by  this  name  (Zechariah  xiv.  4).  There  can  be,  therefore,  no  doubt 
of  the  appropriateness  and  literal  accuracy  of  speaking  of  Jeru¬ 
salem  as  surrounded  by  “mountains”  in  the  case  of  the  hills  in 
close  proximity  to  its  walls.  These  mountains,  with  their  deep 
intervening  glens,  stand  like  vast  earthworks  and  fosses — a  natural 
fortification — around  the  Holy  City.  Distant  heights  both  afford 
no  marked  protection  to  Zion,  and  fail  to  convey  any  sense  of  that 
nearness  and  immediatecy  of  the  Divine  presence  and  power  which 
the  Psalmist  seems  to  be  expressing. 

1  Judges  i.  8  ;  Luke  xxi.  20.  See  article  on  Jerusalem  in  Smith’s 
Bible  Dictionary. 


2  9  6  PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 

any  other  spot.  Yet  it  still  remains  a  city  of  some 
thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  surrounded  by  lofty  and 
picturesque  walls,  and  we  know  from  the  prophetic 
word  that  it  is  finally  to  enjoy  a  never-ending 
future  of  peace  and  glory.  But  before  the  arrival  of 
this  happy  time  a  last  terrible  trial  of  unexampled 
severity  awaits  Jerusalem,  namely,  that  foretold  by 
our  Saviour,  and  plainly  predicted  in  so  many  pas¬ 
sages  of  the  prophets.1  The  Jewish  population  of 
the  city  has  doubled  in  recent  years,  and  events 
now  rapidly  ripening  are  preparing  the  way  for 
Israel’s  return  to  the  Holy  Land  as  a  nation,  while 
yet  in  unbelief.  This  temporary  solution  of  the 
Eastern  Question  is  to  be  looked  for  at  any  moment. 
But  what  will  happen  when  God,  thus  working  by 
the  political  necessities  of  the  times,  causes  them  to 
return  to  the  land  that  He  gave  to  their  fathers  ?  Let 
Jeremiah  answer — 

“  Alas  !  for  that  day  is  great, 

So  that  none  is  like  it : 

It  is  even  the  time  of  Jacob’s  trouble.”  2 

Daniel,  speaking  of  “  the  time  of  the  end,”  when 
he  represents  Israel  as  seen  in  their  own  land,  suf¬ 
fering  a  fearful  and  overwhelming  invasion  at  the 
hands  of  the  King  of  the  North,  declares  of  that 

1  Matthew  xxiv.  ;  Lukexxi.  ;  Isaiah  li.  17-23  ;  lix.  1— 1 8  ;  Ezekiel 
xx.  32 — xxi.  27  ;  Joel  ii. ;  Zeplianiah  i. 

2  Jeremiah  xxx.  3-7. 


MOUNT  ZION. 


29; 


siege  of  Jerusalem,  “  there  shall  be  a  time  of  dis¬ 
tress,  such  as  never  was  since  there  was  a  nation 
even  to  that  same  time.” 1  Zechariah,  foretelling 
the  closing  scenes  of  this  dispensation,  as  we  learn 
from  the  following  verses,  says  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord,  “  I  will  gather  all  the  nations  against  Jeru¬ 
salem  to  battle ;  and  the  city  shall  be  taken,  and  the 
houses  rifled,  and  the  women  ravished;  and  half  of 
the  city  shall  go  forth  into  captivity.”  2 

To  quote  from  the  author’s  Palestine  Eepeopled. 
“  In  the  twenty-second  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  we  have 
a  dark  picture  of  Israel’s  impiety,  followed  by  a 
threatening  of  their  long  dispersion :  ‘  I  will  scatter 
thee  among  the  heathen,  and  disperse  thee  in  the 
countries,  and  will  consume  thy  filthiness  out  of 
thee  !  ’  But  even  this  long  discipline  will  not  be  suf¬ 
ficient,  therefore  we  read  in  the  following  verses . — 
‘  Because  ye  all  become  dross,  behold,  therefore,  I 
will  gather  you  into  the  midst  of  Jerusalem.  As  they 
gather  silver,  and  copper,  and  iron,  and  lead,  and 
tin,  into  the  midst  of  the  furnace,  to  blow  the  fire 
upon  it,  to  melt  it,  so  will  I  gather  you  in  mine 
anger  and  in  my  fury,  and  I  will  lay  you  on,  and 
melt  you.  Yea,  I  will  gather  you,  and  blow  upon 
you  in  the  fire  of  my  wrath,  and  ye  shall  be  melted 
in  the  midst  thereof.  As  silver  is  melted  in  the  midst 
of  the  furnace,  so  shall  ye  be  melted  in  the  midst 


1  Daniel  xii.  i. 


2  Zechariah  xiv.  2. 


298 


PALESTINE  EXPLORED. 


thereof.  And  ye  shall  know  that  I,  Jehovah,  have 
poured  out  my  fury  upon  you.’  ”  1  These  terrible 
final  judgments  are  to  he  correctional.  The  Lord 
“  doth  not  willingly  afflict  and  grieve  the  children 
of  men/’  and  in  the  issue  we  learn  that  the  coming 
sorrows  of  the  Jewish  people  are  to  be  blessed  of 
God  to  their  conversion,  and  their  restoration  to  the 
Divine  favour.  In  view,  however,  of  this  time  of 
Jacob’s  trouble,  the  last  and  worst  of  eighteen 
centuries  of  suffering,  it  will  be  seen  at  once  how 
these  very  mountains,  which  served  to  make  Jeru¬ 
salem  secure  before  the  days  of  cannon,  will  only 
add  so  many  new  terrors  to  the  siege  of  the  future  ! 


1  Ezekiel  xxii.  19-22. 


INDEX  OF  HEBREW  WORDS 

EXPLAINED  IN  THIS  WORK. 


PAGE 

jBIK.... 

.  197 

b's.... 

.  6l 

Sx 

.  170 

D'ii^s .... 

.  170 

D'JSK.... 

•  :  t 

.  I96 

p'DS.... 

.  59 

.  59 

1N3.... 

.  "3 

im.... 

.  241 

rm.... 

T  T 

.  226 

pwp?.- 

nypa.... 

.  264 

*!?•••• 

.  115 

nma.... 

t  •• ; 

.  115 

-nil.... 

••  T 

.  53 

-nil.... 

.  53 

rrm.... 

.  53 

K\a.... 

. .  264 

n3-" 

..  228,  229 

PAGE 

mn . 

.  233 

in . 

.  294 

run . 

CO 

Ln 

pin . 

.  231 

n-iDin . 

.  120 

*D'n . 

.  78 

'lin . 

CO 

n  n . 

. 232 

bin . 

.  120 

bv . 

.  136 

bbu . 

.  136 

bbu . 

.  136 

is> . 

.  205 

i^ . 

.  H7 

nnb’ . 

.  147 

in' . 

.  8 

Dni? . 

.  7o 

HiJDIft . 

t  • 

.  241 

nsVo . 

.  241 

p» . 

TAGE 

.  234 

. 

.  230 

ntsiD . 

•  158,  173 

ib'D.... 

.  283 

n'3b» . 

.  I96 

nwo.... 

V  v 

.  272 

.  241 

m— 

.  93 

w . 

.  288 

.  287 

b\:.... 

.  141 

-  T 

.  264 

HEM.... 

T  T 

.  159 

ItM.... 

-  T 

.  211 

itoii .... 

.  211 

1VJ.... 

”  T 

.  211 

ivi).... 

.  211 

nsD.... 

t  : 

.  33 

TV.... 

.  173 

3oo 


INDEX  TO  HEBREW  WORDS. 


... 

PAGE 

.  61 

pw.... 

..  ioi,  264 

w... 

“  T 

.  61 

.  141 

ms... 

.  250 

nSSSS... 

t  t  :  - 

.  256 

nm... 

.  250 

n?- 

.  78 

nvg... 

.  231 

msp... 

.  78 

.  78 

Pp.... 

PAGE 

.  225 

an.... 

.  142 

am.... 

T 

.  141 

D'n'ai.... 

.  141 

nm.... 

00 

Oi 

nm.... 

T  T 

.  272 

yyw... 

. 274 

nm.... 

“  T 

. 193 

.  141 

nnw.... 

.  141 

. 

..158, 267 

PAGE 

“DE^ ... 

V  V 

.  US 

pms\... 

...  129,  130 

mpns?..., 

.  129 

D'm.... 

•  "  T 

.  130 

IffiP .... 

~  T 

.  2 1 1 

mxw., 

.  21 1 

.  94 

ng?.... 

.  94 

135.- 

...  223,  226 

man.... 

.  184 

nan..., 

.  265 

INDEX  OF  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES 


Genesis — 

i.  5,  8,  13,  19, 

ii.  2 . 

23,  3D 

PAGE 

.  17 

viii.  22 . 

xviii.  6 . 

.  33 

xxi.  8-10 . 

.  49 

xxiii.  11 . 

.  18 

xxiv.  11 . 

xxiv.  18 . 

.  19 

xxiv.  31 . 

.  18 

xxv.  29-34.  •  •  • 

.  72 

xxvi.  19 . 

.  1 14 

xxvii.  28 . 

.  132 

xxx.  36 . 

.  18 

xxxi.  23 . 

.  18 

„  4° . 

.  135 

xxxii.  28  . 

.  170 

xxx  viii.  18  ... 

.  161 

xlii.  18 . 

.  18 

xliii.  16 . 

.  18 

>>  23 . 

.  18 

»  25,31... 

.  70 

xlv.  I . 

.  59 

xlvi.  6 . 

.  134 

xlvii.  31 . 

■  •  158, 

159,  162 

xlviii . 

.  162 

xlix.  17 . 

.  261 

1.  7-11 . 

.  163 

Exodus— 

iv.  1,  2 . 

.  167 

„  J7 . 

.  169 

„  20 . 

.  170 

v.  6,  7,  8,  12... 

„  1 9 . 

vii.  10,  12,  19. 

viii.  5 . 

.  167 

PAGE 


Exodus— 

viii.  16-24 .  83 

ix.  28 .  170 

xiii.  21 .  44 

xvi.  4,  8,  12 .  70 

xvii.  9 .  170 

xix.  16 .  45 

XX.  32 .  288 

xxii.  6 .  38 

xxii.  24 .  54 

xxiv.  15 .  45 

xxv.  31-35 .  95 

xxv.  xi,  17,  29,  31,  38....  74 

xxvii.  21 .  17 

Leviticus— 

xvii.  13 .  35 

xxiii.  27-43 .  144 

xxvi.  26 .  158 

xxvii.  32 .  271 


Numbers— 
i.  4,  16... 

x.  34 . 

xi.  11,  25 
xvii.  1-5 


*>  6 
M  7 


55 

,,  17-21 
xx.  7,  9.... 
xxii.  24.... 
xxiv.  17. ... 
xxviii.  2... 


.  161 

.  44 

.  24 

.  169 

.  170 

.  157,  170 

.  171 

.  170 

.  17 1 

.  171 

.  161 

.  171 

.  54 

173,  242,  268 

.  70 


CO 


0  2  INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES. 


Numbers— 

xxviii.  16-24 
xxix.  13-40.. 
xxxi.  4,  5.... 
xxxii.  16 . 


»  36 . 

xxxv.  33 . 

Deuteronomy— 

iii.  10 . 

xi.  29 . 

xvi.  13 . 

xxiii.  12,  13. 

„  25 . 

xxv.  4 . 

xxvii.  5 . 

xxxii.  2 . 

„  ..  13  •••• 
xxxiii.  28.... 

Joshua— 

ii.  16 . 

vii.  21,  22... 

viii.  31 . 

xiii.  17 . 

xv.  S3 . 

xx.  8 . 

xxii.  14 . 

xxiv.  31 . 

Judges— 

i.  8 . 

iv.  17-2T  ... 

v.  24 . 

vi.  23 . 

„  36-40  ... 

»»  38 . 

xiv.  5 . 

xix.  8 . 

Ruth— 

ii.  4 . 


1  Samuel— 
i.  21-23 ... 
iv.  1 . 

viii.  ix.... 

ix.  12 . 

xiii.  12  .... 
xiii.  19-22 


PAGE 

•  150 

•  150 

.  l6l 

■  S3 

•  S3 

•  S3 

•  35 


..  283 
..  294 
..  229 
..  240 
3,  288 

...  235 

...  288 

...  141 

...  206 
...  142 


294 

98 

288 

283 

59 

283 

157 

179 


295 

8 

9 

18 

137 

i39 

261 

18 


19 


48 

59 

28 

19 

59 

14 


PAGE 

1  Samuel— 

xiv.  15 . 

.  170 

xiv.  25-27 . 

.  206 

xvii.  34 . 

. 26l,  277 

xix.  15 . 

.  l6o 

xxiv.  3 . 

.  53 

xxv.  7 . 

.  260 

„  18 . 

.  33 

»  29 . 

.  250 

2  Samuel— 

i.  21 . 

. I32,  !42 

»  26 . 

.  18 

,,  27 . 

iv.  5 . 

„  12 . 

vii.  11 . 

XV.  I . 

.  18 

.  18 

.  115 

.  28 

.  28 

xvii.  13 . 

.  250 

xviii.  6-8 . 

.  206 

„  14 . 

.  268 

xxn.  43 . 

.  13° 

xxiii.  6,  7 . 

.  38 

»  20 . 

.  261 

Kings— 

i-  5 . 

iv.  28 . 

,,  3Q . 

.  28 

.  223 

.  202 

vii.  49,  50 . 

.  74 

xi.  36 . 

.  92 

xiii.  24 . 

.  261 

xv.  4 . 

.  92 

xvii.  1 . 

.  142 

xviii.  26 . 

.  18 

„  28 . 

.  85 

„  42-45 . 

.  46 

,,  44-46 . 

.  29 

xix.  4 . 

.  18 

5?  5>  . 

.  67 

xxii.  38 . 

. 115 

Kings — 

i.  2 . . . 

.  82 

9?  4 . . . 

. 159 

ii.  12 . 

.  18 

j?  24 . 

.  206 

vi.  21 . 

.  18 

vii.  1 . 

.  33 

viii.  19 . 

.  92 

INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES.  303 


PAGE 

2  Kings— 

ix.  32 . 19,  109 

>’"37 .  240 

xiii.  7 .  236 

xvii.  25 .  261 

xviii.  17 .  1 15 

xix.  31 .  294 

xxiii.  10 .  265 

1  Chronicles— 

xxi.  23 .  230 

2  Chronicles— 

iii.  1 .  228 

».4 .  74 

viii.  4 .  67 

ix.  17-20 .  75 

ix.  21-24 .  202 

xx.  7 .  164 

Ezra— 

ix-  9 .  55 

Nehemiah— 

ii.  14 .  1 15 

iii.  15 . II5>  136 

iv.  20 .  264 

Esther— 

v.  10 .  59 

viii.  16 .  90 

Job— 

i.  16 .  66 

iii.  21 .  99 

xiv.  17 .  250 

xvi.  18 .  36 

xvii.  6 .  265 

„  13 .  193 

xviii.  5,  6 .  91 

xx.  7 . 240 

,,  26 .  66 

xxi.  17 .  91 

,,  18 . 225,  234 

xxvii.  18 . 210,  211 

xxviii.  18,  19 .  75 

xxx.  4 .  7° 

xxxi.  21 . 288 

xxxvii.  21 .  130 

xxxviii.  9 . 41 

„  28 .  I42 


xxxviii.  37 .  130 

xxxix.  15 .  233 

xl.  18 .  61 

xli.  15 .  61 

,,  27 .  225 

29 .  225 

„  3° .  193 

Psalms— 

ii.  6 .  295 

„  9 .  i73>  264,  274 

iY;.1 .  173 

viii.  2 .  co 

xviii.  42 . 

.  13° 

xx.  1,  7 . 

,»  5 . 

xxi.  3 . 

xxiii.  1 . 

”  4 .  255, 

263,  264 

j)  5 . . . 

.  259 

xxxvi.  6 . 

xxxviii.  4 . 

.  24 

xlii.  x . 

3 . 

xlv.  6 . 

xlviii.  2,  4-6,  12-14. 

liv.  1,  3 . 

„  4,  5 . 

lv.  17 . 

lxii.  3 . 

.  56 

lxvii.  4 . 

lxix.  1,  2,  14,  15 . 

.  89 

lxxviii.  14 . 

lxxx.  10 . 

0  12 . 

.  54 

lxxxi.  16 . 

lxxxiii.  14 . 

lxxxix.  6 . 

0  37 . 

xc.  4 . . . 

.  i79 

cv.  16 . 

.  158 

„  39 . 

CX.  I,  2,  4 . 

>,  2 . 

.  152 

„  3 . 

.  147 

cxvi.  6 . 

cxviii.  12 . 

.  38 

cxxi.  1 . 

VO 

1 

CO 

e\ 

.209,  220 

CXX11.  I,  2 . 

304 


INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES 


PAGE 

Psalms — 

cxxiv.  4,  5 .  89 

cxxv.  1,  2 .  280 

cxxvi.  4 .  62 

cxxx.  6...  .  219 

cxxxi.  2 .  51 

cxxxii.  3 .  159 

cxxxix.  9,  10 .  44 

cxlvi.  9 .  220 

cxlvii.  18 .  141 

Proverbs— 

ii.  4,  5 .  99 

iii.  20 .  129 

vi.  6-8 .  77 

x.  26 .  69 

xiii.  9 . 91 

xviii.  10 .  iii 

xix.  12 .  131 

XXV.  II .  189,  196 

XXX,  25 .  78 

Ecclesiastes— 

ii.  5,  6,  8,  10 .  202 

„  6 .  205 

x.  8 .  54 

xi.  7 .  90 

xii.  5 .  93 

Song  of  Solomon — 

i.  3 .  182 

„  5,  6 .  192 

,,  6 .  210,  211 

>>  7 .  58 

„  I3 .  2So 

ii.  3.. .181,  185,  189,  190,  192, 

203,  204 

»  5 .  192,203 

Ri.  7 .  159 

iv.  15 .  114 

„  16 .  141 

v.  2 .  140 

,,.7 .  211 

vii.  8 .  189,  203 

viii.  5 .  203 

,,  11,  12 .  211 

SAIAH — 

ii.  2 .  149 

vii.  18 .  83 

ix.  3 .  106 


PAGE 

Isaiah— 

ix.  18 . 

x.  15 . 

.  288 

„  32 . 

.  288 

xi.  1  9 . 

.  178 

4 . 

.  283 

„  6 . . . 

„  7 . 

.  223 

»>  I5 . 

.  288 

xiii.  1 . 

.  25 

*»  2 . 

.  288 

XV.  1 . 

.  25 

xvii.  1 . 

.  25 

xviii.  4 . 

.  i38 

xix.  1 .  25 

,,  16 .  288 


xxii.  9 . 

. ns 

„  11 . 

. US 

xxiii.  1 . 

.  25 

xxv.  10 . 

„  11 . 

xxvii.  3 . 

xx viii.  9 . 

.  50 

„  27,28 . 

.  231 

xxix.  1 7 . 

xxx.  6 . 

.  25 

»  14 . 

....  113,  119 

,,  28 . 

»  33 . 

xxxii.  2 . 

.  58 

xxxiiiVi2 . 

.  38 

xxxvii.  7,  29 . 

.  249 

„  3 6 . 

xli.  8 . 

»»  15 . 

....  230,  237 

xliii.  1,  2 . 

.  90 

xlv.  3 . 

.  99 

xlix.  22 . 

.  40 

,,  23 . 

.  43 

1.  10 . 

Ii.  17-23 . 

lix.  1-18 . 

lx . 

5.  7 . 

.  149 

„  8 . 

.  239 

lxii . 

.  178 

,,  10,  11 . 

lxiii.  3 . 

.  243 

lxv.  5 . 

.  70 

,,  17 . 

.  148 

»  25 . 

.  223 

INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES.  305 


PAGE 

Isaiah— 

lxvi . 

.  I78 

„  7- 11  . 

„  22 . 

„  23 . 

.  150 

JEREMIAH— 

i.  II,  12 . 

.  94 

ii.  23 . 

.  265 

iii.  16 . 

iv.  2 . 

.  18 

„  *6 . 

211,  219 

„  17 . 

211,  219 

v.  6 . 

206,  261 

vi.  4 . 

.  56 

vii.  31,  32 . 

.  265 

ix.  18 . 

.  141 

xi.  12 . 

.  04 

,,  19 . 

.  70 

xii.  8 . 

xv.  8 . 

.  57 

xvi.  4 . 

„  6 . 

.  85 

xviii.  9 . 

.  19 

>1  17 . 

.  i34 

xix.  1,  2 . 

.  120 

„  XI,  12,  14 . 

160,  265 

XX.  16 . 

.  57 

xxi.  13 . 

•  37,  283 

„  14 . 

.  206 

xxiii.  28 . 

.  224 

„  33,  34,  36,  33- 

.  25 

XXV.  10 . 

.  91 

xxvi.  18 . 

.  207 

xxx.  3-7 . 

.  296 

xii.  5 . 

.  85 

„  8 . 

.  97 

xliii.  12 . 

xlvii.  5 . 

.  83 

xlviii.  2 . 

.  242 

„  8,21 . 

.  283 

,,  37 . 

.  85 

Lamentations — 

ii.  14 . 

.  2S 

Ezekiel— 

iv.  15 . 

.  240 

,,  16 . 

.  158 

v.  16 . 

.  158 

Ezekiel— 

vi.  3 . 

xii.  10 . 

PAGE 

.  63 

xiii.  5 . 

xiv.  13  . 

.  158 

xvi.  4 . 

.  41 

xvii.  5 . . 

.  256 

„  10 . 

.  134 

xix.  11,  12,  14 . 

„  12 . 

.  134 

XX.  34-37 . 

xxi.  31,  32 . 

xxii.  19-22 . 

„  30 . 

xxiv.  7,  8 . 

.  3§ 

xxxi.  12 . 

.  63 

xxxii.  6 . 

xxxiv.  13 . 

.  63 

„  25 . 

xxxv.  8 . 

.  63 

xxxvi.  4,  6 . 

.  63 

,,  10 . 

.  19 

xl.-xlvi . 

.  149 

xlii.  16-20 . 

.  150 

xlv.  17-25 . 

.  150 

,,  21-25 . 

.  150 

xlvi.  16,  17 . 

.  150 

xlviii.  30-35 . 

.  149 

Daniel— 

ii-  34,  35 . 

.  125 

iv.  9 . 

.  I36 

Vix.  13 . 

H 

CO 

to 

,,  23 . 

.  233 

xii.  1 . 

Hosea— 

ii.  12 . 

vi.  4 . 

viii.  10 . 

.  25 

xii.  10 . 

xiii.  15 . 

.  134 

xiv.  5 . 

.  132 

„  5-7 . 

.  143 

Joel— 

i.  10,  12 . 

ii . 

iii.  18 . 

.  63 

U 


INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES. 


306 


PAGE 

Amos— 

iii.  4  . 

.  206 

vi.  4 . 

.  i59 

ix.  9 . 

..  244,  249,  250 

Micah— 

iii.  12 . 

.  207 

iv.  1,  2 . 

.  i49 

,,  13 . 

.  237 

v.  7 . 

.  i32 

vii.  11  . 

.  54 

,,  14 . 

,,  16,17 . 

.  273 

Nahum — 

i.  1 . 

.  2? 

„  10 .  •• 

•••'. .  3§ 

Habakkuk — 

i.  1 . 

.  25 

Zephaniah— 

i . 

.  296 

ii.  6 . 

.  53 

iii.  9  . 

. .  150 

Zeciiariah— 

ii.  4,  5 . 

.  39 

„  9 . 

.  288 

vi.  13 . 

.  173 

xi.  2  .  . 

. .  206 

,,  4-7 . 

.  273 

xii.  10 . 

. 127,  145 

xiv.  1-11 . 

.  1 77 

„  2 . 

5?  4 . . 

.  295 

16-19.... 

.  150 

Malachi— 

ii.  6 . 

.  283 

ill.  3  . 

Matthew— 

iii.  4 . 

. 255,  256 

< 

H 

00 

.  95 

Vll.  2 . 

.  34 

,,  15 . 

.  261 

,,  26,27... 

.  87 

xi.  30 . 

xii.  38-40.... 

•••• .  175 

xiii.  52 . 

.  65 

PAGE 

Matthew— 

xvi.  4 .  175 

xvii.  5 .  45 

xviii.  2-4 .  51 

xxi.  16 .  50 

xxii.  41-46 . 147,  171 

xxiii.  4 .  26 

xxiv .  296 

,,  28 .  177 

,,  30 .  44 

XXV.  18 .  98 

xxvi.  64.. . 44 

,,  67 .  218 

xxvii.  30 .  218 

,,  34 .  89 

„  46 .  17 

Mark — 

i.  6 .  256 

ii.  24 .  1 

iw  24 .  34 

xiii.  26 .  44 

xiv.  65 .  218 

xv.  25 .  1 7 

Luke — 

ii.  7,  12 .  41 

vi.  38 .  34 

viii.  52 .  128 

x.  3 .  261 

xiii.  8  1 .  239 

„  33 .  37 

xx.  18  .  126 

xxi .  296 

,,  20 .  295 

27 .  44 

xxii.  27 .  209 

„  3i .  249,  252 

„  35,  36,  38  .  15 

,,  63-65 .  218 

xxiii.  27 .  128 

John— 

ii.  1 7 .  89 

,,  19-21 .  175 

iv.  52 .  1 7 

v.  2 .  115 

vi.  39,  40,  44,  54 .  127 

viii.  6 .  64 

ix.  7 .  115 

x.  10 . 200 


r 


INDEX  TO  SCRIPTURE  REFERENCES.  307 


PAGE 

John — 

x.  n-17 . 

264 

,,  12 . 

261 

xi.  g . 

18 

xiv.  6 . 

200 

xviii.  10 . 

252 

„  18 . 

67 

„  22 . 

218 

xxi.  9 . 

67 

>>  16 . 

2  76 

»  l8»  19 . 

276 

Acts— 

i-  9 . 

45 

iii.  19-21 . 

....  146, 

1 77 

x.  13 . 

7i 

xiii.  33 . 

*75 

xiv.  22 . 

232 

XX.  28-30 . 

277 

xxiii.  2 . 

218 

23 . 

17 

Romans— 

i-  4 . 

174 

ix.  21 . 

209 

xi.  15 . 

H 

4^ 

00 

v* 

178 

„  17,  24 . 

200 

,,  26 . 

1 77 

1  Corinthians— 

ix.  9 . 

235 

2  Corinthians— 

iv.  7 . 

98 

V.  II . 

126 

vii.  8,  11  . 

198 

Galatians— 

ii.  i-5 . 

275 

,,  n-14 . 

276 

iv.  29 . 

49 

Philippians — 

ii-  7 . 

209 

iii.  8-11 . 

127 

PAGE 

COLOSSIANS  — 

ii-  3 . 

.  98 

1  Thessalonians— 

iv.  13-18 . 

.  127 

2  Thessalonians— 

i-  7-9 . 

..  128,  243 

1  Timothy— 

v.  18 . 

.  235 

2  Timothy— 

iii.  12 . 

.  2 77 

>»  13 . 

.  2 77 

Titus— 

ii-  13 . 

Hebrews— 

v-  4,  5 . 

.  174 

v.  6,  10 . 

vi.  20 . 

vii.  14 . 

vii.  20,  21 . 

ix.  7-12 . 

.  175 

xi.  21 . 

..  158,  162 

James— 

ii.  23 . 

2  Peter— 

iii.  8 . 

.  179 

Revelation— 

1.  7 . 

...  44,  127 

ii.  27 . 

.  275 

xii.  5 . 

xiv.  14 . 

.  44 

xviii.  23 . 

xix.  15 . 

.  275 

XX.  4,  5,  6 . 

CO 

H 

cC 

(N 

M 

xxi.  1 . 

>1  16 . 

.  149 

,,  18,  21 . 

.  75 

„  22 . 

.  149 

INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 


Names  of  Hebrew ,  Arabic ,  Greek,  and  Latin  words,  Names  of  Arabic 
Towns,  and  Titles  of  Books,  are  in  italics. 


Aaron,  priesthood  of,  proved,  168 
staff  of,  identical  with  Moses’, 
167,  169 

Abiayeh,  219,  255 
Abijam,  given  a  lamp  in  Jeru¬ 
salem,  92 

Abou  Shousheh,  106 
Abraham’s  hospitality,  71 
Absalom,  fifty  sais  employed  by, 
28 

death  of,  267 
Aceldama,  123 

Aclian,  disposal  of  treasure  by,  98 
Acre,  plain  of,  80 
“Adder  in  the  path,”  261 
Addison,  195 

Adonijali,  fifty  sais  employed 
by,  28 

Advent  of  Christ,  104,  126,  175, 
243,  273 

Age  of  present  order  of  world, 
179 

Agriculture — 

arable  land,  nature  of,  2 
arable  land,  manure  not  used 
on,  239 

harvest  festivities,  106 
Ahijah’s  prophecy,  92 
Ail,  170 
Aimek,  101,  264, 

Ain  Karim,  village,  of,  216 
Ain  Fusail,  60 
A  in  es  Sultan,  294 


Aleppo,  101 

Alliteration  in  Hebrew,  241 

Almond  tree,  93 

Aloes,  102 

Anata,  94 

Anathotli,  94 

’ Anazeh ,  39 

Ancient  Egyptians,  Wilkinson’s, 
167 

Ant,  the,  75 

Antiquities  of  the  Jcivs,  103,  116 
Apartment  of  women  inviolable, 
10 

Apheek  and  Aphak,  59 
Aphek,  59 
Aphekah,  59 

“Apple”  of  Scripture,  marks 
of,  188 

Apple,  loose  meaning  of  the  word, 

185 

does  not  flourish  in  Palestine, 

186 

Approaching  End  of  the  Age,  49, 
179 

Apricot,  does  not  flourish  in 
Palestine,  187 

prepared  mostly  for  winter 
use,  187,  201 

Aqueduct  made  by  Pilate,  116 
Aqueducts,  58,  116 
Arab  sheikh,  see  Sheikh 
Arabic,  coarse  words  in  collo¬ 
quial,  7 


3 IO 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Arabic  names  of  Palestine  places 
have  Hebrew  meanings,  18 
transliteration,  53,  230 
Arabic  words  explaining  He¬ 
brew — 
beer ,  113 
bukeiah,  264 
jedar,  53 
jurun,  228 
kcish,  225 
ketzahh,  231 
matar,  141 
moarej,  230 
seah,  33 
shahhak,  130 
tcilla,  138 
teben,  222 
surar,  250 
wa'ar,  205 

Arable  land,  see  Agriculture 
Arabs,  see  Bedawetn 
Arakiyeli,  216 
’ Araph ,  141,  142 
Aristophanes,  136 
Aristotle,  137 
Armageddon,  249 
Askelon,  186 
Assayah,  262 
’Atal,  22 

Aujah,  river,  attempt  to  ford, 
88 

Avenger  of  blood,  107 
Ayesh,  72 
’ Azariyeh ,  El,  93 

Baalzebub,  82 
Babylon,  judgment  of,  91 
Backsheesh,  260 
Bakbook,  120 
Balaam,  54 
Banah,  226 
Barghash,  81 
Barley,  measuring  of,  30 
travellers’  right  to  eat,  2 
stored  by  ants,  76 
Bayarah,  190,  202 
Beair,  113 

Bedaiveen,  10,  14,  35,  38,  39,  7 r, 
72,  86,  96,  154,  200,  259,  263 
Bed  of  the  Bible,  159 
Beef,  70 
Beer,  113,  286 


Beged,  255 

Belka,  200,  242 

Beni  Sakk'r  Arabs,  200 

Beraikah  and  Barak,  115 

Bergheim,  Mr.  Samuel,  106,  250 

Bethany,  93 

Bethshan,  101 

Bible,  declarations  of,  watched 
over,  95 

difficulties  of,  see  also  Diffi¬ 
culties,  3,  6,  49 
Eastern  book,  is  an,  3,  5 
figurative  language  of,  5 
literary  work,  as  a,  5 
realistic  treatment  of,  6 
simplicity  of,  4 

Bible  Lands  and  Customs,  Van 
Lennep,  D.D.,  231 
Bik'ah,  101,  264 
Birket,  115 

Bishops,  ordination  vow  of,  278 
Blood-feud,  107 
Blood  spilt  on  ground,  34 
Blue-fly,  79 

Bondage  of  Israel  in  Saul’s  days,  14 
Bordeaux  pilgrim,  165 
“Bosom,”  the  pocket  of  Scrip¬ 
ture,  34,  41 
Bracelets,  73 
Bread,  70 
Brickmaking,  226 
Bridal  wreath,  origin  of,  192 
Bridges,  87 

Broth,  common  food,  71,  72 
Burden-bearers,  22 
“Burden”  of  Scripture,  24 

Cactus  ficus  indica,  190 
Csesarea,  ruins  of,  284 
Cairo,  metal-workers’  bazaar,  74 
driving  in,  27 

Camel,  kneeling  at  dismounting, 

25 

Camel’s  milk,  73 
Camp-fires,  37-40 
Camp  life,  8-12,  37,  39 
Canals  of  Egypt,  83 
Candlestick  in  Tabernacle,  95 
Carmel,  Elijah’s  prayer  at,  45 
meaning  of  name,  170,  207 
Carrion  birds,  239 
Carrosa,  200 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


3  1 1 


Carthaginian  waggon,  231 
Caves,  manure,  full  of,  238 
robbers,  haunts  of,  259 
Cement  of  Palestine,  s eeHhomrah 
Cerastes,  261 
Chaff,  224,  234 
Chalk,  indurated,  see  Mizzey 
Chaplin,  Dr.,  103 
Charcoal  fires,  66 
Chariot,  account  of  travels  in  a, 
103 

Children — 

carried  on  shoulder,  41 
riding,  taught  to,  42 
salted  at  birth,  41 
swaddled,  41 
weaned,  when,  47 
Chimneys,  absence  of,  66 
Christ — 

advent  of,  104, 126, 175,  243,  273 
believers’  love  to,  195 
believers  one  with,  275 
club,  compared  to,  268 
earthen  vessel,  body  of,  an,  98 
forerunner,  as  a,  29 
manifestation  of,  see  Advent 
name,  protection  of,  hi 
night-mist,  waiting  in  the,  140 
orange-tree,  compared  to  an, 
181,  204 

passing  through  deep  waters,  89 
priesthood  of,  proved,  172 
preparing  food  for  disciples,  67 
resurrection  of,  173 
revelation  of,  see  Advent 
roads  prepared  for,  104 
rock  for  shadow,  58 
sign  given  by,  175 
Song  of  Solomon,  in,  182 
staff,  typified  by  a,  172 
stone,  typified  by  a,  126 
Shepherd,  the  Good,  58,  263 
violence  towards,  at  His  trial, 
217 

Chronology  of  Scripture,  179 
Church,  Jerusalem  a  figure  of,  295 
Cincinellse,  82 

Cisterns,  for  storage  of  produce,  96 
Citron,  184 

Clay,  brickmaking  used  in,  226 
feet  of  Daniel’s,  image,  125 
potter’s,  123 


Clinton,  Mr.  Fynes,  179 
Clouds,  dew  of,  133 

Mediterranean,  come  from,  45 
mention  of,  in  Scripture,  44, 
129 

morning,  the,  44 
not  seen  on  a  dewy  night,  130 
unusual  in  Palestine,  44,  127 
“  thick,”  138 
Club,  13,  255 
of  iron,  13,  83,  267,  273 
Cobra  di  Capello,  261 
Coffee-drinking,  16,  68 
Coins,  hidden,  97 
Conder,  R.E.,  Lieut.  C.  R.,  12, 
18,  86,  120,  165,  226,  250,  286, 
288,  292 

Corinthian  Church,  Paul’s  tender 
rebuke  of,  198 
Corn,  abundance  of,  2 
measuring  of,  30 
sifting  of,  244 
travellers’  right  to,  1 
wrongly  inserted,  235 
winnowing,  233 
Courteous  speech,  197 
Criminals,  trial  of,  217 
Crocodile,  61,  225 
Crusaders  attacked  by  flies,  82 
Crushed  straw,  222,  229 
Crying  out  by  keepers,  219 
Cummin,  231 
Cup  of  Palestine,  16 
Customs  of  Palestine  most 
ancient,  16 

Cutting  a  mark  of  grief,  83 
Cyrus,  promise  of  wealth  to,  99 

Dahheel,  108 

Damascus,  apples,  best,  come 
from,  186 

apricot  flourishes  at,  187 
Darts  of  iron,  83 
Daughters  despised,  43,  47 
I  David,  24,  61,  70,  no 
David,  familiar  with  rights  of 
sanctuary,  no 

David’s  lament  for  Saul  and 
Jonathan,  142 

Day,  length  of,  in  Palestine,  17 
Days  of  week,  names  of,  17 
Deborah’s  song,  9-11 


312 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Deep  eh,  107 

Degrees,  songs  of,  220,  279 
De  Mundo ,  Aristotle’s,  137 
Denveeshes,  13,  85,  152,  267 
Desert,  see  "Wilderness 
Devout  expressions,  19 
Dew,  nature  of,  130 

season  when  it  falls  in  Pales¬ 
tine,  133 
Diet,  see  Food 

Difficulties  of  Bible  explained — 
ants  gathering  food  in  harvest, 
75 

comfort  me  with  apples,”  192 
club  used  as  a  dagger,  267 
dew  dropped  by  clouds,  129 
“  dew  of  thy  birth,”  the,  147 
“feeding”  with  a  rod,  272 
hart  panting  after  water- 
brooks,  61 

harvest  put  before  summer,  78 
“  holy  beauties,”  149 
indelicate  language,  so-called,  7 
Isaac’s  age  when  weaned,  49 
Jael’s  killing  Sisera,  8 
Jesus  stooping  down  and  writ¬ 
ing  on  the  ground,  64 
“  mountains,”  use  of  the  word, 
294 

name  of  Jehovah  a  strong 
tower,  108,  hi 

small  stone  of  the  sieve,  246, 250 
straw  threshed  by  itself,  234 
sword,  disciples  to  take  a,  14 
swords  and  spears,  cutting 
with,  85 

“tears  have  been  my  food,”  70 
watcher  tree,  93 
worship  leaning  on  a  staff,  162 
“  wings  of  the  morning,”  43 
“  womb  of  the  dawn,”  148 
Dismounting  from  camel,  25 
Distances,  how  computed,  17 
Donkey-fly,  79 
Doosh ,  233 

Dore’s  pictures  conventional,  25 
Dothan,  101 

Dress  of  men  and  women,  16 
Dried  fruit,  187,  201 
Drinking-vessels  of  Solomon,  74 
Drosos  (Spocros),  meaning  of,  136 
Dubban  halady ,  79 


Dubban  asrack,  79 
hkail,  79 
shurran,  79 
Dung,  240 

Dungpool,  none  in  Palestine, 
238 

Dust  sprinkled  on  blood,  34 

Earthen  vessels,  98 
Ebal,  294 

Egypt,  26,  41,  63,  73 
Egyptian  priests,  staves  of,  167 
Ekron,  82 

Elijah  acting  as  Ahab’s  sais,  28 
food  prepared  for,  67 
praying  on  Carmel,  45 
threatening  drought,  142 
Eloaheem,  170 
En  Gannim,  53,  80,  101 
Enoch’s  preaching,  128 
Ephesian  Church,  address  to 
elders  of,  276 

Esdraelon,  plain  of,  8,  29,  53,  80 
Euripides,  136 

Exploration  of  Palestine,  diffi¬ 
culty  of,  96 

Exploration  of  Palestine  life 
specially  important,  20 

Fairbciirn’s  Bible  Dictionary,  185 
Fasti  Hellenici,  Mr.  Fynes  Clin¬ 
ton,  179 

“  Father  of  Rain,”  46 
Feek,  63 

Fellahheen ,  32,  47,  66,  106,  118, 
205,  230,  233,  234,  250 
Fellahheen  of  Palestine,  Mrs. 
Finn,  109 

Fertility  of  soil,  2,  239 
Fig,  201 

Figurative  language — 

exuberance  of  Scripture,  5 
metaphor  most  frequent,  43 
sources  of,  in  Psalms,  13 
Finn,  Mrs.,  109 
Fires,  camp,  37 
charcoal,  66 
lighting,  mode  of,  65 
smoke  of  wood,  68 
thorns  amongst,  38 
Flies,  different  kind  described,  79 
Floods,  86,  249 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


313 


Flowery  language,  199 
Fodder,  222 
Food,  70 

Fording  rivers,  87 
Forerunners,  26 
Forests  of  Palestine,  205 

Gadair,  53 
Gamal ,  53 

Gardens,  in  Song  of  Solomon,  203 
irrigated  spots,  203 
manured,  239 
Gath  to  the  cedars,  204 
Gay,  264,  293 
Gay  Hinnom,  265,  293 
Gaza,  81 
Gedairah,  S3 
Gedaliah,  85 
Gehenna,  265,  293 
Gerizim,  294 
Gesenius,  120 
Ghurbal,  245 

Gideon’s  miraculous  sign,  137,  139 
Girding,  119 

Girdle,  leathern,  34,  119,  255 
Girls,  neglect  of, in  tlie  East,  43,47 
Goaren,  228 

Goat’s  sour  buttermilk,  see  Lehen 
Gold,  pure,  73 
Grazing  grounds,  256 
Great  Sea  westward,  45 
Grove,  Mr.,  295 
Guest-room,  67 

Guinness,  Mr.  H.  Grattan,  49,  179 

Hajr  es  Soda,  229 
Hammal,  22 
Hammam ,  BirJcet ,  115 
Hammer  and  nail  of  a  tent,  8 
Hannah  as  a  nurse,  47 
Har,  294 

Haram  El,  the  Hebron  “sanc¬ 
tuary,”  165 . 

Harvest  festivities,  105 
night-mist  in  heat  of,  138 
period  of,  78 

Hazael,  destruction  brought  by, 
236 

Heat,  80 

Heat  of  summer,  133 
Hebrew,  alliteration  in,  241 
Hebrew  Lexicon,  Gesenius’,  120 


LI ebr cio  Lexicon,  Dr.  Lees’,  161 
Hebrew,  pleasure  from  know¬ 
ledge  of,  183 

points,  errors  in,  159,  233,  274 
Hebron,  Jacob’s  desire  to  be 
buried  there,  162 
tomb  of  the  patriarchs,  164 
Heshes,  81 
Hharaph,  78 

Hharootz  and  liharatz,  232 
Hlmr  sooth,  120 
Hhasheesh,  222 
Hherev,  85 
Hhoareph ,  78 
Hhomrah,  use  of,  60,  116 
preparation  of,  117 
two  kinds  of,  125 
Hhulil  Gate,  n  7 
Hhulil  El,  see  Hebron 
Hidden  treasure,  95 
Highways,  see  Roads 
Hill  of  Evil  Counsel,  293 
Hind,  61 

Hippolytus  coronifer,  136 
Hippopotamus,  61 
“Holy  beauties,”  149 
Holy  Land,  see  Palestine 
Horned  viper,  261 
Horse — 

food  of,  222,  228 
guarded  from  flies,  how,  80 
threshing,  used  in,  231 
Horse-fly,  79 

Horsemanship  in  Palestine,  42 
Horticulture,  see  Gardens 
Hospitality,  Arab,  67,  71 
Hours  of  the  day,  17 
“  House  of  hair,”  9 
House  of  Forest  of  Lebanon,  75 
Hunting  leopard,  261 
Hushai,  250 
Hyenas,  239,  260,  266 

Image  of  Nebuchadnezzar’s 
dream,  how  broken,  123 
Imagery  of  the  Bible,  see  Figu¬ 
rative  language 
Imam,  105 

Ingathering,  see  Tabernacles, 
feast  of 

Iron  mace,  267,  273 
Isaac,  when  weaned,  48-50 


314 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Isaac  and  Rebekah,  meeting  of,  25 
Ishmael,  the  conspirator,  85,  96 
Israel,  meaning  of  the  name,  170 

Jackal  shoes,  102 
Jackals,  239,  260 
Jacob’s  request  to  be  buried  at 
Hebron,  162 

Jael  taking  Sisera’s  life,  8-12 
Jaffa,  190,  192,  203 
•7  arai%  1 18 
Javelins,  83 
Jedar,  52,  215 

Jehoram,  given  “a  lamp  in  Jeru¬ 
salem,”  92 
Jemel ,  53 
Jenin,  53,  80,  xoi 
Jeremiah  shivering  potter’s  ves¬ 
sel,  1 19 

Jericho,  97,  266,  294 
Jerubbaal,  see  Gideon 
Jerusalem — 

Benjamin’s  territory  in,  92 
model  of,  291 
mountains  round,  291 
pools  at,  115 
roads  to,  Solomon’s,  102 
roads  to,  when  repaired,  105 
rocks  of,  their  nature,  281 
rocky  city,  a,  36. 
scarped  foundation  of  wall  of, 
120,  285,  288 

seat  of  David’s  throne,  92 
seven  mountains,  is  on,  281 
“  table-land  rock,”  36,  37 
temple  area  in,  115 
temple  of  Ezekiel  to  be  in,  149 
violence,  a  constant  scene  of,  37 
“wall  of  fire”  round,  39 
walls  of,  281,  292 
warfare,  has  a  history  of,  295 
water  supply,  117 
Zion,  what  part  of  so-called,  281 
Jesus,  see  Christ 
Jewellery  of  pure  gold,  74 
Jews — 

honour  in  store  for,  40 
night-mist  to,  God  a,  143 
repentance  of,  145 
restoration  of,  147 
sufferings  of,  250,  271,  296 
tribulation  of,  last,  296 


Jezreel,  plain  of,  80 
Jonathan  obtaining  honey  in  a 
ya’ar ,  206 
Joppa,  see  Jaffa 
Jordan  valley,  77,  81 
Josephus,  102,  116,  285,  286,  292, 
294 
Job,  95 

Judah’s  pledging  his  matteh,  161 
Judgment  of  the  world,  127 
Jurun  or  J urn,  228 

Kacooley ,  281 
Kadi,  staff  of,  157 
Kamise,  119,  255,  263 
Kash  and  kashash,  225,  226 
Katzeer,  78 
Kaioad,  105 
Kayitz,  78 

Keeper,  office  of,  38,  209 
Keraia,  95 
Ketzahh ,  231 

Kidron,  Nahlial,  or  valley  of,  124, 
293 

“Kill  and  eat,”  71 
King  of  the  North,  296 
Kislion,  river,  87 
Kitto,  Dr.,  184 
“Knives  and  lancets,”  85 
Kurmul,  260 

S- 

Labiates  family,  137 

Lake  of  Galilee,  76 

Lamp  at  night,  90 

Land  and  the  Book,  169 

Language  of  the  Bible,  figurative, 

5,  13 

indelicate,  so-called,  7 
phrases  of,  still  heard,  17 
“Last  days,”  character  of,  277 
Leben,  food,  as,  73 
Sisera,  given  to,  8 
soporific  effects  of,  1 1 
Lee,  Dr.,  161 
Lehhem,  70 

Lennep,  Dr.  H.  J.  Van,  231 

Lentil  soup,  72 

Leopard,  hunting,  261 

Liberality  rewarded,  34 

Life  of  Palestine  to  be  explored,  20 

Lifta,  village  of,  213 

Light,  Eastern  fondness  of,  38,  90 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


315 


Lightning,  66 
Limestone  rock,  36,  52 
Lions,  261 
Lord  of  Flies,  82 
Lungs,  power  of,  65 

Mace  of  Iron,  13,  83,  267,  273 
Madmenak  and  Madmen,  242 
Malakey ,  282 
Mantilla,  Birket,  115 
Manure,  239 
Maskeeth,  196 
Mastabeh,  159 
Matar,  141 

Materialism  met  on  its  own 
ground,  6 
Mathbain,  241 
Matteh,  158,  161,  231 
Maudslay,  C.E.,  Mr.  Henry,  120, 
285 

Mauristan,  coins  found  in,  97 
Measurer  of  corn,  31 
Meat  in  Palestine,  70 
Mediterranean  Sea,  45,  46,  88 
Meeshoar,  283 
Megiddo,  new  site  of,  101 
Mesha,  king  of  Moab’s  enactment, 
IJ3 

Meshullam,  Mr.,  186 
Meteor oloyia,  Aristotle’s,  137 
“Mighty  staff,  the,”  169 
Millennium,  39,  40,  53,  145,  178 
Ministers,  duty  of,  as  shepherds, 
2  75 

ordination  vow  of,  278 
Mish’eneth,  272 
Mittah,  159 
Mizzey,  52,  282 
Moab,  238,  242,  283 
Moab  mountains,  294 
Moabite  stone,  113 
Moaraj  or  Moarej ,  230 
Moatz,  234 

Mohar ,  travels  of  a,  10 1 
Mohjanet,  152 
Moloch  worship,  265 
Money  hidden  in  the  earth,  97 
Mookaries,  76,  100 
“Morning  cloud,”  see  Clouds 
Moses’  blessing,  142 
song,  140 
staff,  167 


Mosquito,  80 
Mount  of  Offence,  293 
of  Olives,  124 
Zion,  see  Zion 

Mountains  round  Jerusalem,  291 
of  Judah,  281 
use  of  word,  294 
Mufti ,  staff  of,  157 
Mujedda,  101 
Mukam,  105,  107 
Mule-drivers,  see  Mookaries 
Mushmushah,  187 
Mustafa  of  Lifta,  214 
Mutton,  70 
M’zab ,  201 

Na-atz ,  93 
Nabal,  260 

Nablous ,  see  Shechem,  103 

Naboot,  256,  267 

Nahhal,  264,  293 

Nahhal  of  Kidron,  124,  293 

Name  of  God,  protection  of,  no 

Namous,  80 

Naphahh ,  184 

Natali,  159 

Nazal,  141 

Nebuchadnezzar’s  vision  of  image, 

125 

Neby  Samwil,  294 
Negeb.  62 
New  Jerusalem,  75 
Newness  of  life,  148 
Night,  coldness  of,  134 
Night-clothes  of  Easterns,  160 
Night-lamp  kept  burning,  90 
Night-mist,  effects  of,  139,  143 
nature  of,  134,  138 
rain  connected  with,  140 
value  of,  13 1 
Nile  valley,  62 
Noapli  and  Noopli,  287 
Noatair  and  Natar,  21 1 
Noatzair  and  Natzar,  211,  219 
Noon,  heat  of,  56 
reckoning  by,  18 
resting  sheep  at,  57 
Nubians  employed  as  keepers,  212 
Nursing  children,  41 

Oak-trees,  256 
Oaphan,  197 


3 1 6 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Offence,  Mount  of,  293,  294 
Olive,  200,  201 

Olivet  or  Olives,  Mount  of,  293, 
294 

Olive  yards,  210 
Ophneem ,  196 
Orange — 

apple,  the,  of  Scripture,  188 
bridal  wreath,  origin  of,  192 
flourishes  at  Joppa,  190 
flowers  of,  196 
fragrance  of,  192 
garden  tree,  a,  203 
length  of  time  in  flower,  194 
introduced  into  Palestine,  202 
irrigation,  need  of,  203 
original  home  of,  202 
vitality  of,  194,  199 
wholesomeness  of,  191 
Oman’s  offer  to  David,  230 
Our  Work  in  Palestine,  114,  291 
Ox,  unmuzzled,  235 
threshing  with,  229,  237 

Palm,  201 
Palmyra,  67 
desert  of,  38 

Palestine  Re-peopled,  vi.  272,  281, 
297 

Papyrus,  account  of  a  Mohar's 
travels,  101 

Parable  of  the  Talents,  98 
“  Passing  under  the  club,”  268 
Passover,  feast  of,  144 
Pastures,  256 

Patriarchal  and  priestly  offices  in 
one  person,  157 
Paul,  courage  of,  275 

courtesy,  pattern  of,  198 
malefactor,  treated  as,  218 
Pebble,  Hebrew  and  Arabic  for, 
250 

Pentecost,  feast  of,  144 
Persia,  sais  in  cities  of,  27 
Peter  restored  by  Christ,  276 
sifted  by  Satan,  252 
warming  himself,  67 
withstood  by  Paul,  275 
Pharaoh’s  edict  as  to  crushed 
straw,  226 

Phrases  of  Bible  now  heard, 
17-19 


Pictures  of  Scripture  scenes  and 
subjects,  25 
Pigeons,  wild,  238 
Pilgrims  Progress,  24 
Poimainein,  272 
Points,  Hebrew,  159,  223,  274 
Pomegranate,  201 
Pools,  or  rain-water  reservoirs, 
115,  201 

now  at  Jerusalem,  115 
Poor,  gifts  to,  at  harvest  feast,  106 
Pottage  of  the  East,  72 
Pottery,  heaps  of  broken,  118 
Pottery  Gate,  120,  123 
Preaching  of  our  day,  where  de¬ 
fective,  128 
Priclcly-pear,  102,  190 
Prince  of  Wales’  visit  to  the 
Hebrew  mosque,  164 
Protestantism,  277 

Qarha,  114 

Quarterly  Statement  of  Palestine 
Exploration  Fund,  286 

Ra'a\  274 
Ra’ah,  272 

Rabbi,  staff  borne  by,  152 
Rdddyed,  246 

Rain,  season  of,  113,  133,  141,  228 
violence  of,  86 
Rain-water  cisterns,  113,  286 
Rami  eh,  81 
Raphad,  193 
Ravav  and  rav,  142 
Ravines  and  gorges,  63,  264 
Realistic  elements  of  the  Bible,  6 
Recovery  of  Jerusalem,  291 
Repentance,  104 

“  Restoration  of  all  things,”  times 
of,  145 

Resurrection  of  believers,  127 
Reveeveem,  141 

Revised  version,  the,  iii.  64,  127 
Riding,  how  learned  by  Easterns, 
42 

River  Aujali,  88 
Kislion,  87 
Jordan,  87 

subterranean,  at  Jaffa,  190 
Roads,  ordinary  state  of,  99 
repaired  at  intervals,  130 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


317 


Hoads,  Homan,  101 
Roamalih,  85 
Hobbers,  assaults  b}r,  212 
capture  of,  214 
caves  of,  259 

precautions  against,  14,  38,  214 
Hocks  of  central  range,  36,  37,  281 
“  Rod  of  iron,”  112 
Homan  roads,  iox 
itos,  meaning  of,  136 
Rosemary,  137 
Bottle,  32,  33 

Royal  visits  to  Palestine,  103 
Runners  before  a  chariot,  28 

Sdah,  and  Seak,  33 
Sabbath,  plucking  ears  of  corn 
on,  1 

Sa'cer,  141 
Sciis,  26 

Salutations,  18,  19 
Salvation,  God’s  plan  of,  1 76 
Samuel,  when  weaned,  47 
foretells  employment  oisais,  28 
Sanatorium  at  Jerusalem,  2x2,217 
Sanctuary,  privileges  of,  107 
Sandflies,  81 
Santa  Croce  marble,  282 
Saphsaph,  256 

Satan,  avenger  of  blood,  111 
sifting  Peter,  252 
Scarped  foundations  of  Zion,  120, 
285,  288 

Schick,  Mr.  Conrad,  100,  292 
Scopus,  mount,  293,  294 
Scorpion,  262 

Scribes  and  Pharisees,  26,  64 
Scriptures,  see  Bible 
Seasons,  order  of,  78 
Se'eereem,  141 

Sennacherib’s  host  overthrown, 
249 

Serpents  haunting  jedars,  54 
Sesame,  231 

Shaivet,  231,  242,  255,  267 
Shaivet,  used  of  “tribe,”  158, 
r6r,  173 
Shahhak,  129 
Shakaid  and  Shakad,  94 
Shamayeem ,  130 
Sharon,  plain  of,  12,  80 
Shechem,  97,  103 


Sheep  folds,  53 
Shehhakeem,  129 
Sheihk,  19,  67,  71,  84,  154 
Shekels  found  at  Jericho,  97 
Shepherd  fights  for  his  sheep,  260, 

273 

Good,  the,  263 
rest  of,  at  noon,  57 
staff  of,  263 
Sheth,  268 
Shever,  113 
Shiloh,  97 
Shirocco,  134,  249 
Shivering  of  potter’s  vessel,  112, 
ii  7 

Shoamair  and  shamar,  211,  219, 
220 

Siddim,  vale  of,  60 
Sieve,  245 

Sifting  wheat,  65,  245 
Sign,  given  of  Christ’s  authority, 
I7S 

Silloh,  96 
Siloam,  293 
Silver,  pure,  73 
Silwan ,  293 

Sisera’s  life  taken  by  Jael,  8-12 
Sledge,  threshing,  229 
Sling,  13 

Slothful  servant  like  smoke  to 
the  eyes,  69 

Sluggard  like  smoke  to  the  eyes, 
69 

Smoke,  68 

Snow,  falls  of,  melting  suddenly, 
86 

Sobeh,  229 

Solomon,  roads  made  by,  102 
Song  of  Solomon,  rabbis’  opinion 
of,  182 

“Songs  of  Degree,”  220,  279 
Spear,  85 

Spectator,  Paper  455,  195 
Staff,  ancestral,  described,  153 
official  use  of,  152,  154 
Steps  cut  in  rock  scarps,  286 
Stewing  meat,  71 
Stones,  used  by  muledrivers,  100 
used  to  crush  pottery,  118 
thrown  on  to  roads,  180 
Stooping  down  and  writing  on 
ground,  63 


3  1 8 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Storms,  sudden,  86,  249 
Straw,  crushed,  222,  229 
in  Authorised  Version,  224 
short,  in  Syria,  227 
unbroken,  225 
uses  of,  227 

“  Stubble”  in  Authorised  Version, 

225 

Subterranean  river  at  Joppa,  190 
Sultan, Birket  e$,n5,  118,  120,  285 
Summer,  period  of,  78 
Superlative  degree,  form  of 
Hebrew,  170,  183 
Sicrdr ,  250 

Survey  of  Western  Palestine,  63, 
96,  250 

Swaddling  clothes,  41 
Swimming,  hand  over  hand,  241 
Sword,  13,  15,  84,  217 

Tabernacle,  furniture  of,  74,  95 
Tabernacles,  feast  of,  144,  146, 
148,  184 

“Tableland  Rock,”  the,  36,  37, 
283 

Tadmor,  67 
Tal,  135 
Talal,  136 

Talmud,  tradition  of,  as  to  the 
time  of  the  end,  178 
Tamar’s  demand,  161 
Tappooahh ,  184 

Tarboosh ,  used  aspocketbook,  216 
Tears  called  food,  70 
Teben,  222,  246 
Temple,  area  of,  114 

golden  candlestick  in,  95 
overlaid  with  pure  gold,  74 
Ezekiel,  of,  149 
Tent-life,  8-10,  21 1,  220 
Tent-Life  in  Palestine,  Lieut. 
Conder,  R.E.,  12,  18,  87,  165, 

226 

“Testimony,  the,”  170 
Teven ,  223 

Thar,  or  blood-revenge,  107 
Third  wall  of  Jerusalem,  292 
Thomson,  W.  M.,  D.D.,  169 
Thophet,  265 

Threshing,  process  of,  229 
Threshing-floor,  228 
Threshing-sledge,  229 


Tiberias,  76,  81 
Timbs,  Mr.  J.,  194 
Timneh,  31 

Tithe,  taking  of  flock,  271 
Tittle,  95 
Titus,  284 

Tomb  of  the  patriarchs  at  Hebron, 
164 

Tombs,  Mohammedan  veneration 
of,  166 

money  buried  in,  97 
Toophahh,  185 
Tophet,  265 

Towers  of  Hippicus,  &c.,  284 
Transliteration,  Hebrew  and 
Arabic,  8,  53,  230 
Travelling,  armed,  14 
keeper  required  when,  220 
Treasures,  hidden,  95 
Trial  of  criminal,  217 
“  Tribe,”  words  for  in  Hebrew, 
158,  161 

Tribulation,  232 

Tribulum ,  230 

Tristram,  Dr.,  186,  201,  261 

Tudela,  Benjamin,  of,  165 

Tudmoor,  6 7 

Tyre,  coins  found  at,  97 

Tzaphtzapliah,  256 

Tzeroar,  250 

Tzoor,  250,  283 

TJllama,  staff  of,  157 
Unbelief  answered,  6 
Uzziah,  172 

Valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom, 
1 17,  265,  293  ;  see  also  Gay 
Vineyard  walls,  54 
Vineyards,  210 
Vinisauf,  81 
Viper,  horned,  261 
yellow,  262 
Vultures,  239,  262 

Wa'ar,  see  Ya'ar 
Wady,  265 
Wady  Muss  in,  102 
Urtas,  186,  188 
Wall  of  fire,  39 
called  jedar,  52 
Walls  of  Jerusalem,  281 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


3  19 


"Warren,  R.E.,  Colonel,  291 
TE ars  of  the  Jews,  285, 286, 292, 294 
Wataid,  8 

Watchman,  see  Keeper 
Weaning  of  children,  47 
Weapons  of  Palestine,  13 
Weather,  see  Rain 
Wely,  105 

Wheat,  abundance  of,  2 
compared  with  teben,  224 
measuring,  30 
travellers’  right  to,  1 
sifting,  245 
winnowing,  233 

Wicked,  teben,  a  type  of  the,  237 
Wild  animals,  14,  38,  239,  260,  266 
Wild  boars  round  vineyards,  55 
Wild  growth,  nature  of,  38 
Wilderness,  259 
Wilderness  of  Judea,  260 
Wilson,  R.E.,  Col.  Sir  Charles, 
291 

“Wings  of  the  morning,”  44 
Winnowing,  233.  249 
Winter,  period  of,  78 
Wisdom,  pursuit  of,  99 
Wolves,  261,  263 


“Womb  of  dawn,”  148 
Women,  apartments  of,  10 
Wood  tires,  68 

“Word  spoken  on  its  wheels,”  197 
Word  of  God,  see  Bible 
World,  age  of  present  order  of,  179 
Writing  with  finger  on  ground,  63 

Ya’ar,  charcoal  burners  set  fire 
to,  206 

nature  of,  205,  207 
irrigated  by  Solomon,  205 
references  to,  in  Bible,  205 
Yalad ,  147 
Yaldootli,  147 
Yathaid ,  8 
Yisrael ,  Birket,  115 
Yod,  95 

Zion,  fortress  of,  117 
scarped  foundation  of  wall,  120, 
285,  288 

spot  indicated  by,  281 
sublime  figure  of,  279 
see  Jerusalem 
Zophar  the  Naamatliite,  66 
Zowan,  244,  249 


THE  END. 


HUNTED  BY  DA  LI. AN  TYNE,  HANSON  AND  CO. 
KDINliUROH  AND  LONDON 


